HAYES   MEMORIAL    LIBRARY 


An   Eventful   Night 


An  Eventful  Night 

A  Comedy  of  a  Western 
Mining  Town 


By 
Clara   Parker 


Doubleday  &  McClure  Co. 
New  York  1900 


COPYRIGHT,  1897,  BY 
S.  S.  McCLUKE  CO. 

COPYRIGHT,  1900,  BY 
DOUBLED  AY  &  McCLURE  CO. 


An   Eventful   Night 


M532987 


An  Eventful  Night 


I  am  not  going  to  lead  up  to  my  story 
gracefully,  for  when  you  have  learned  that 
my  name  is  George  Manning  and  that  I 
was,  at  the  time  the  thing  happened,  visit 
ing  my  married  sister  in  one  of  the  liveli 
est,  roughest,  and  most  altogether  corrupt 
mining  towns  to  which  a  lady  of  culture  was 
ever  carried  by  an  adoring  husband,  you 
know  all  that  it  is  needful  you  should  know 
of  me,  prior  to  my  little  burst  of  notoriety. 

My  sister  was  very  proud  of  me — whether 
justly  or  unjustly  I  am  not  prepared  to  say 
— and  immediately  on  my  arrival  began 
flooding  her  house  with  all  the  single  ladies 
for  miles  around,  in  the  hope,  I  was  well 
aware,  that  some  one  of  the  undeniably 
fine  creatures  would  tempt  me  to  desert 
my  business  in  the  East  and  set  up  for  a 
1 


An  Eventful  Night 

family  man  on  some  of  the  ranches  or  in 
some  of  the  mines  which  in  the  form  of 
dowries  hung  about  the  persons  of  these 
already  alluring  young  things. 

I  had  no  intention  of  following  out  her 
secret  desires,  but  I  had  not  the  slightest 
objection  to  making  myself  as  agreeable 
as  nature  would  permit;  and  all  went 
smoothly  until  one  day  I  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  a  severe  pain  was  racking  at  my  lower 
jaw,  which,  finding  itself  unable  to  contain 
this  pain  within  ordinary  limits,  had 
swelled  itself  up  to  a  degree  shocking  to 
behold.  As  kind-hearted  a  woman  as  ever 
lived,  my  sister  was  perfectly  brutal  in  her 
comments  on  my  appearance,  and  made  it 
so  plain  that  she  expected  me  to  keep  out 
of  sight  of  the  numerous  callers  with  which 
her  house  was  always  thronged,  that  I 
skulked  about  all  that  day  like  a  forlorn 
leper,  a  large  bandage  about  my  head  and 
a  very  displeasing  ointment  imparting  a 
pungent  odour  to  my  entire  person. 

Night  came,  and  I  was  no  better.  My 
sister  became  desperate.  There  was  noth- 
2 


An  Eventful  Night 

ing  for  it — I  must  be  lanced.  The  pain 
had  stopped  by  this  time,  and  I  pleaded  de 
lay,  but  was  scornfully  refused.  I  hinted 
at  rebellion,  and  then  my  fears  were  meanly 
played  upon.  Who  could  tell  but  that  my 
disorder  might  be  some  deep-seated  affec 
tion  of  the  bone  ?  I  laughed  softly  at  this, 
but  was  promptly  frowned  down.  Dr. 
A must  be  seen.  He  knew  every 
thing. 

"Well,  send  for  him,  then!" 

But  no — he  must  not  be  sent  for;  he 
was  in  delicate  health;  I  must  go  to  him. 

What!  In  this  high  wind.  I  was  in 
delicate  health  myself ! 

Nonsense.  There  was  nothing  the  mat 
ter  with  me. 

Then  why  go  for  a  doctor  ? 

I  will  not  write  down  all  my  pitiful 
efforts  at  logic  with  a  woman,  and  that 
woman  a  sister.  I  went,  of  course — an 
unsightly  mass  of  shawls  in  a  close  car 
riage  ;  and  after  a  long  drive,  during  which 
I  went  to  sleep,  I  was  admitted  into  the 
presence  of  the  most  disagreeable  man  I 
3 


An  Eventful  Night 

ever  met — none  other  than  the  great  doc 
tor  himself,  who  was  eating  what  smelled 
like  very  poor  soup  out  of  a  large  bowl, 
and  who  insulted  me  the  moment  I  ex 
plained  my  business.  I  was  pitifully  ser 
vile,  but  to  no  purpose.  I  abused  myself 
in  bitter  terms;  I  jeered  at  my  own  folly 
in  supposing  my  case  worthy  of  his  notice : 
but  I  could  not  soften  his  judgment  by  a 
hair's  breadth.  I -meanly  laid  my  indig 
nity  at  my  sister's  door,  and  told  him  as 
mirthfully  as  possible  that  she  had  feared 
some  trouble  with  the  bone.  For  answer 
he  drove  a  lancet  in  my  swollen  jaw  to  its 
very  hilt,  and  stopped  my  speech  with  my 
own  blood. 

I  could  have  shrieked  aloud,  but  for  the 
contempt  in  his  eye;  and  then  he  called 
my  trouble  a  "gum-boil,"  as  the  most 
atrocious  thing  he  could  lay  his  tongue  to; 
and  while  the  cold  sweat  of  pain  was  dry 
ing  on  me,  I  handed  him  a  large  bill,  from 
which  I  got  no  change. 

I  should  have  been  gone  in  a  moment, 
and  what  did  happen  never  would  have 
4 


An  Eventful  Night 

happened,  but  my  bandages  kept  me. 
While  I  stood  in  the  cold  hall  fumbling 
with  them,  another  patient,  or  at  least  an 
other  caller,  entered.  Not  a  meek,  de 
jected  figure  this  time,  with  his  head  tied 
up  in  shawls,  but  a  great,  aggressive  crea 
ture  in  a  huge  coat,  with  a  heavy,  stamping 
step,  and  a  smell  of  new  leather  about  him, 
which  probably  came  from  his  long-wristed 
driving  gloves.  He  paid  no  attention  to 
me — indeed,  he  could  scarcely  have  seen  me, 
I  stood  so  far  back  in  the  shade — but  strode 
on  into  the  presence  of  the  doctor,  leaving 
the  door  open  and  having  a  general  air  of 
hurry  and  impatience. 

It  is  all  going  down  just  as  it  happened, 
so  I  may  as  well  confess  that  I  was  con 
scious  of  a  sudden  vulgar  curiosity  as  to 
the  reception  of  my  successor. 

"  Dr.  A ,  I  believe!  "  exclaimed  the 

newcomer  in  the  loud,  aggressive  tone 
affected  by  the  hack-driver  and  travelling 
showman,  and  then  stopped — which  was 
more  than  the  doctor  did,  for  he  kept  on 
with  his  soup,  rattling  the  spoon  against 
5 


An  Eventful  Night 

his  false  teeth  at  each  mouthful  with  a  vin 
dictive,  stabbing  movement.  "  Well,"  he 
snarled  at  length,  setting  down  the  empty 
bowl  and  fixing  the  man  with  a  savage 
scowl,  "  what's  the  matter  with  you? 
Have  you  got  a  gum-boil,  too?"  This 
last  with  contempt  unutterable.  This  was 
too  much !  Of  course  the  newcomer  knew 
nothing  of  me  and  my  trouble,  so  was 
ignorant  of  the  creature's  meaning;  but 
remembering  the  pain  of  that  boil,  if  I 
must  so  call  it,  I  felt  that  it  should  have 
received  more  respectful  treatment,  and  I 
was  on  the  verge  of  doing  something  rash, 
when  the  doctor  again  surprised  me. 

"Shut  that  door!"  he  screamed,  but 
whether  at  me  or  my  successor,  I  could 
not  tell.  Evidently  the  man  thought  that 
he  was  addressed,  for  muttering  an  excla 
mation  not  strictly  moral,  he  closed  the 
door  with  a  bang  that  made  me  wink. 

I  came  to  myself  at  that,  and  a  little 
ashamed  of  lurking  there,  I  finished  my 
bundling  hastily,  and  withdrew  with  state- 
liness.  My  carriage  was  waiting  for  me 


An  Eventful  Night 

just  where  I  had  left  it,  which  should  have 
surprised  me,  considering  that  I  had  told 
the  man  not  to  wait,  as  I  felt  inclined  for 
some  exercise  after  my  day's  retirement. 
This,  however,  I  failed  to  remember,  only 
observing,  as  I  climbed  inside,  that  there 
was  no  one  in  the  driver's  seat.  Doubt 
less  he  was  a  tippling  animal,  and  had 
stepped  across  the  way  to  that  cosy  little 
saloon  I  saw  there.  Another  time  I  would 
not  have  grudged  him  his  little  fling,  but 
I  was  growing  decidedly  ill-tempered,  and 
meanly  plotted  how  I  should  disconcert 
him  on  his  return. 

It  was  a  gratifying  thought  as  I  huddled 
myself  upon  the  seat  to  wait  his  coming. 
I  had  been  so  ignominiously  handled  my 
self,  that  the  consciousness  of  the  power  I 
held  over  my  sister's  hireling  elevated  me  al 
most  to  where  I  had  stood  in  my  own  mind 
before  the  occurrence  of  this  affair  of  the 
boil!  Petty?  Of  course  it  was;  naked 
human  nature  is  a  horrid  thing  to  look  at 
under  the  scourge  of  bodily  afflictions. 

I  had  been  sitting  for  some  moments  and 
7 


An  Eventful  Night 

was  just  getting  warm  and  comfortable 
under  the  robes,  when  I  heard  the  coach 
man  mount  hurriedly  to  his  seat.  I  began 
gathering  myself  to  give  him  a  surprise, 
when  the  carriage-door  was  flung  open  by 
a  rude  hand,  and  a  tall,  muffled  figure 
bounded  in  like  some  captured  animal 
forced  behind  the  bars  by  a  keeper's  lash. 
In  my  surprise  I  sat  passive,  so  might 
or  might  not  have  been  observed.  Any 
way,  I  got  no  greeting;  and  my  informal 
friend  was  just  settling  himself  into  the 
seat  opposite,  when,  muttering  in  a  voice 
muffled  by  many  wrappings,  ' ( I've  forgot 
ten  the  other  case/'  he  bounded  to  his 
feet,  and  reopening  the  door,  framed  his 
lips  for  a  peevish  call  to  the  driver.  At 
least,  to  be  perfectly  exact,  that  is  what  I 
think  this  intruder  designed  doing;  but 
owing  to  circumstances  I  shall  never 
know  to  an  exact  certainty,  for  at  that 
moment  there  came  a  loud,  impatient 
crack  of  the  whip,  the  horses  bounded  for 
ward  into  the  night,  while  I — well,  I  was 
dazed  and  bewildered,  my  jaw  was  still 
8 


An  Eventful  Night 

racked  with  the  pain  of  the  late  operation, 
an  uncomfortable  sensation  of  coagulated 
blood  lay  about  my  teeth,  and  when  you 
add  to  this  my  injured  self-love  as  well  as 
my  annoyance  at  the  glaring  insubordina 
tion  of  the  driver,  it  would  seem  to  me 
there  was  sufficient  excuse  for  what  fol 
lowed.  It  is  true,  and  I  have  never  de 
nied  it,  that  the  check-strap  was  at  that 
moment  within  easy  reach  of  my  hand; 
and  bloodless  critics  now  claim  that  reason 
demanded  I  should  pull  it,  stop  the  car 
riage,  denounce  the  coachman,  confront 
the  intruder,  and  otherwise  air  the  various 
items  of  the  mystery  in  which  I  thought 
myself  involved ;  but  I  scorn  their  logic. 

As  I  have  before  explained,  the  city  in 
which  my  sister  lived  was  in  the  ferment 
ing  state  of  growth.  It  was  gorged  with 
picked-up  gold,  and  red-handed  with  strife 
as  to  who  should  own  it.  I  am  a  full- 
blooded  person  myself,  and  the  suspicion 
that  I  was  being  made  the  victim  of  some 
rascality  acted  on  me  like  a  pleasing  in 
toxicant.  All  seemed  then  explained ;  the 
9 


An  Eventful  Night 

temporary  absence  of  the  coachman  from 
his  box,  the  insolent  freedom  of  the  in 
truder — all  pointed  as  clear  as  noonday 
down  the  road  to  dark  suspicion.  Acting 
on  my  first  impulse,  I  sprang  like  a 
wounded  hyaena  across  the  carriage,  and 
had  my  companion  by  the  throat,  nor  did 
I  relax  my  grip  upon  the  scrawny  thing 
until  the  sudden  flash  of  a  street  light  re 
vealed  to  me  in  the  horror-stricken  face 
peering  at  me  above  my  rigid  knuckles  the 

ill-favoured  features  of  Dr.  A ,  now 

twined  about  and  darkly  framed  by  a 
huge  muffler,  scarcely  less  in  dimensions 
than  the  one  twisted  about  my  swollen 
jaw. 

It  was  like  a  sudden  thunder-clap,  and 
though,  when  you  considered  the  man's 
disposition  and  his  standing  in  society,  my 
throttling  him  like  a  common  thief  was  an 
act  for  which  there  would  be  no  pardon 
granted,  yet  it  was  my  plain  duty  to  let 
go  and  apologize.  I  did  let  go,  but  with 
what  sickening  results  I  hardly  have  the 
courage  to  record. 

10 


An  Eventful  Night 

Kemember,  please,  that  the  carriage- 
door  was  still  open,  that  Dr.  A was 

already  half-way  out,  and  that  the  horses 
were  going  at  full  speed.  A  sudden  jerk 
was  all  that  was  needed — and  the  jerk 
came.  For  one  instant  the  unfortunate 
man  toppled  where  he  stood,  while  his 
eyes  glared  into  mine  with  rage  and  fear, 
and  his  lean  throat  struggled  hoarsely  with 
a  sound;  and  with  a  little,  involuntary 
shriek,  I  saw  him  make  a  dreadful  plunge, 
stand  fairly  upright  on  his  head  and  shoul 
ders,  and  collapse  in  a  mashed,  sickening 
fashion  into  the  shallow  gutter. 

Now,  indeed,  the  carriage  should  have 
been  stopped,  and  no  further  trifling  about 
it;  but  a  strange  stupidity  crept  over  me 
as  I  stood  craning  my  head  back  to  the 
spot  we  were  fast  leaving  in  our  wake,  un 
til  a  second  flash  of  light  revealed  a  fact  to 
me  which  brought  me  down  upon  the  car 
riage  seat,  very  mild  and  limp,  my  mind 
filled  with  serious  speculations  about  the 
awkwardness  of  the  scrape  I  had  got  my 
self  into. 

11 


An  Eventful  Night 

I  was  not  in  my  sister's  carriage — and 
more,  there  now  floated  before  me  the  dis 
tinct  remembrance  of  having  dismissed  the 
coachman  at  the  doctor's  door.  "  Yes/' 
ran  on  my  mind  in  morbid  detail,  "I  had 
dismissed  my  driver,  had  sought  out  the 
great  man  with  my  sordid  complaint,  had 
lingered  in  his  passage-way,  had  hidden 
in  his  carriage,  had  flown  at  him  like  an 
avenging  tiger-cat,  and  now  he  lay  a  dead 
man  by  the  roadside,  with  heaven  knows 
how  many  witnesses  to  our  death-struggle, 
in  full  tilt  to  set  the  legal  bloodhounds  on 
my  trail.  And  there  was  my  coachman 
still  at  large  with  his  tale  to  tell,  and  there 
was  the  possibility  of  last  words  which  my 
victim  might  falter  forth  upon  some  offi 
cial  breast,  stamping  me  as  his  assailant." 
That  the  man  was  dead  seemed  my  only 
hope,  and  I  sat  and  nursed  my  horrid 
thought  until  my  mind  was  a  charnel- 
house  of  ghastly  speculation.  How  far 
removed  I  seemed  from  the  peaceful  sor 
rows  of  yesterday,  and  how  I  cursed  my 
stupid  forgetful  ness  about  the  carriage  and 
12 


An  Eventful  Night 

my  unseemly  haste  to  throttle  an  innocent 
man  on  whose  privacy  I  had  intruded! 

In  the  meantime  the  carriage  sped  on, 
on,  and  on,  faster  and  yet  faster,  and  still 
I  sat  there  dull  and  lumpish,  trying  to 
form  my  vapid  plans  as  to  what  I  should 
do  when  it  should  stop.  Then  I  think 
that  the  real  folly  of  my  actions  began,  for 
it  occurred  to  me  that,  after  all,  there 
would  not  be  so  much  to  startle  the  driver. 

Dr.  A and  I  were  much  the  same 

height;  we  both  happened  to  be  much 
bundled  about  the  head;  what  was  there 
to  prevent  my  alighting  without  suspicion, 
and  then  watch  my  chance  to  cut  and 
run,  leaving  the  charge  of  sudden  madness 

to  rest  on  the  memory  of  Dr.  A ,  when 

his  corpse  should  be  discovered  by  the 
roadside?  That  I  battled  with  these 
thoughts  I  well  remember,  but  their  fas 
cination  grew  upon  me,  and  I  kept  return 
ing  to  them  at  intervals  until  my  whole 
line  of  action,  despite  the  efforts  of  my 
reason,  was  clearly  mapped  out  before  me. 

Gradually,  too,  the  whole  thing  grew 
13 


An  Eventful  Night 

upon  me  as  funny  and  theatrical,  and 
even  the  certainty  which  possessed  me 
that  the  dead  body  of  that  unpleasant 
doctor  still  lay  by  the  roadside  could  not 
hinder  me  from  a  certain  awful  relish  in 
it.  In  vain  did  I  force  myself  to  dwell  on 
the  shocking  figure  he  must  cut;  but  all 
that  guilt  and  shame  could  do  for  me,  in 
the  state  of  mind  I  then  endured,  was  to 
force  from  me  a  general  forgiveness  of  his 
offensive  treatment  of  me.  That  done, 
my  moral  sense  would  budge  no  further. 

And  now  another  disquiet  laid  hold 
upon  me.  It  was  becoming  painfully  evi 
dent  that  we  must  have  long  since  passed 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  city.  No  lights 
now  flashed  in  at  the  carriage  windows; 
no  opposing  roll  of  wheels  deadened  the 
sound  of  our  vehicle  as  it  rattled  over  the 
frozen  ground,  and  as  my  mind  glanced 
about  'midst  the  tales  of  rural  bloodshed- 
ding  I  had  heard,  of  masked  men  rising 
like  conjurers'  puppets  before  the  belated 
traveller,  of  ill-gotten  gains  that  had  been 
made  to  vanish  like  a  vision,  I  began  con- 
14 


An  Eventful  Night 

structing  headlines  for  the  next  day's  issue 
in  which  the  name  of  George  Manning  was 
conspicuous. 

There  was  no  getting  out  unless  I  chose 
the  certain  death  of  a  broken  neck  to  the 
more  shadowy  horrors  with  which  I  was 
threatened.  Suddenly,  it  seemed,  we  be 
gan  going  sheer  up.  Five,  ten,  fifteen 
minutes,  and  still  we  climbed,  until  my 
faculties  became  absorbed  in  the  mere  act 
of  holding  on.  A  whiteness,  as  of  the 
snow  which  I  knew  still  lingered  among 
the  mountains,  threw  a  glare  into  the 
pitchy  darkness  of  the  night.  The  horses 
slipped,  the  driver  swore,  and  I  hung  on, 
while  the  wind  struck  mournful  chords  on 
the  branches  of  the  lonely  pines.  "The 
man  is  mad,"  I  gasped,  as  I  dug  my  nails 
into  things  about  me.  "  Is  mad,  is  mad," 
moaned  the  rising  wind ;  but  who  was  mad 
it  did  not  tell.  Perhaps  I,  perhaps  the 
driver.  Heavens,  what  a  lurch!  And 
now  the  carriage  has  stopped,  and  with  it 
my  heart  had  stopped  also.  My  nerves, 
played  on  by  the  mournful  wind  and  the 
15 


An  Eventful  Night 

pitchy  night,  are  tingling  like  a  child's ; 
but  there  is  no  escape !  A  glare  of  light 
bursts  in  through  the  carriage  door,  and  I 
find  myself  groping  for  the  medicine  chest 
left  upon  the  seat  by  Dr.  A . 

Things  could  not  have  turned  out  worse 
for  me.  I  had  made  certain  in  my  own 
mind  that  the  carriage  would  stop  at  some 
entrance  remote  from  the  house,  and  that, 
while  the  driver's  interest  was  centred  on 
his  horses,  there  would  be  ample  time  for 
me  to  take  wing.  Imagine,  then,  my 
panic  when,  directly  following  the  burst 
of  light,  a  voice,  not  that  of  the  driver — 
with  which  I  had  grown  familiar  as  he 
cursed  his  beasts  up  the  mountain  side — 
but  smoother,  one  trained  into  a  social 
key,  exclaimed  eagerly,  "  So  you  are  here 
at  last,  doctor!  We  have  been  looking  for 
you  impatiently.  She  seems  to  be  grow 
ing  worse  rather  than  better." 

"She!"      I   could   have    sunk   to  the 

earth.     My  patient  then  was  a  woman.     I 

had  not  thought  of  this  possibility.     My 

soul  was  piteous  with  guilt.     The  plight 

16 


An  Eventful  Night 

of  the  expectant  patient  had  never  before 
entered  my  head.  Suppose  some  victim 
of  acute  neuralgia,  some  delicate  female, 
was  waiting  in  hysterical  misery  for  a 
friendly  dose  of  morphine;  or  some  case 
of  chronic  heart  failure  lay,  cold  and  livid, 
in  dire  need  of  one  of  the  mystic  drugs 
contained  in  the  medicine  chest  I  grasped 
so  limply ! 

Well,  I  was  desperate,  there  was  no  help 
for  me.  Heaven  send  the  woman  might 
be  old  and  ugly,  with  no  malady  in  reach 
of  earthly  help!  In  despair  I  climbed 
from  the  carriage,  to  find  myself  standing 
in  a  glare  of  light  before  a  long,  rough 
building  perched  like  an  eagle's  nest  upon 
the  barren,  desolate  spot,  while  behind  me 
lay  the  blackness,  the  gulf -like  abyss  from 
which  we  had  crawled. 

A  dark,  handsome  man  of  some  forty  or 
fifty  was  peering  eagerly  into  my  face,  and 
the  necessity  for  self-control  suddenly  pre 
sented  itself  to  me  with  startling  force. 
In  my  youth  I  had  been  much  given  to 
parlor  theatricals,  and  through  all  the  con- 
2  17 


An  Eventful  Night 

fusion  of  that  moment  those  early  days  of 
training  came  back  to  me  like  the  whisper 
ing  of  angel  voices.  The  voice  of  the  ac 
cepted  stage  doctor  in  my  day  had  heen 
bluff,  though  pleasant — my  voice  should 
be  bluff,  though  pleasant. 

"A  rough  ride,"  I  said,  huddling  my 
coat  about  me  as  in  fancy  I  moved  up  and 
down  before  the  footlights  with  an  easy 
stage  stride.  "  We  have  been  the  deuce 
of  a  time  getting  here." 

"  I  hope  you  are  not  suffering  from  the 
cold,"  exclaimed  my  companion  politely, 
as  he  moved  up  the  steps  of  the  building 
before  me.  "  You  seem  heavily  bundled." 

"  I  got  mixed  up  with  a  fool  of  a  den 
tist,"  I  retorted,  and  then  I  swore  dis 
creetly.  It  would  not  do  to  be  too  nice  in 
my  language.  Able  old  men  rarely  are. 

My  companion  murmured  polite  sym 
pathy  over  the  distress,  and  laughed  in 
gentle  appreciation  of  my  rugged  dis 
pleasure.  "  Our  teeth  are  sad  burdens  all 
through  life,"  he  said,  as  he  conducted 
me  into  a  large,  well-warmed,  but  badly 
18 


An  Eventful  Night 

lighted  apartment.  "We  weep,  and  we 
swell,  and  we  go  rickety  and  altogether 
wrong  until  we  get  them,  but  no  sooner 
are  they  through  than  they  commence  again 
to  play  the  very  deuce  and  all  with  us." 

Although  attending  me  with  courtesy,  I 
could  see  that  he  was  filled  with  a  restless 
impatience  which  could  hardly  brook  the 
necessary  removing  of  my  coat  and  rear 
rangement  of  my  bandages,  which,  you 
may  be  sure,  I  took  good  care  not  to  re 
move  from  my  face,  and  which,  swelled  as 
I  was  about  my  only  visible  eye,  must  have 
effectually  disguised  me  from  my  own 
mother. 

"When  you  are  quite  warm  we  will  go 
upstairs,"  he  said  grudgingly,  as  I 
stretched  my  stiff  hands  towards  the  fire  ; 
but  I  would  not  take  the  hint  to  hurry, 
for  had  the  scaffold  and  halter  been  before 
me,  I  could  not  have  felt  much  greater 
reluctance  to  go  forth  and  meet  them. 

My  surroundings  were,  as  I  expected, 
decidedly  suspicious.  Though  the  items 
which  made  up  my  evidence  were  innocent 
19 


An  Eventful  Night 

enough  individually,  yet,  looked  at  collec 
tively,  they  could  not  but  appear  peculiar, 
seen  in  that  country,  at  that  hour  of  night, 
and  at  that  distance  from  anything  like 
civilized  restrictions.  In  the  first  place, 
the  entire  incongruity  of  the  man  himself 
with  his  surroundings  was  something  that 
demanded  explanation  ;  for  here  in  a  place 
which  would  naturally  suggest  to  your 
mind  a  host  either  of  the  strictest  hermit 
type,  shaggy  of  hair  and  eloquent  of  a 
gloomy  past,  or  a  toil-stained  miner 
wedded  fco  his  pipe  and  glass,  I  found  a 
man  of  town  speech,  one  lately  from  the 
hands  of  a  thoughtful  tailor,  and  bringing 
with  him  into  that  wilderness  all  the  trou 
blesome  necessities  of  civilized  life;  for 
example,  the  soft  rug  flung  down  before 
the  glowing  grate,  the  books  and  papers 
tossed  everywhere  about,  and,  above  all, 
the  snowy  whiteness  of  exquisite  table 
linen  showing  upon  some  shabby  old  ma 
hogany  in  the  room  beyond. 

All  these  marked  the  gentleman  of  taste. 
Then  why  the  comparative  barbarity  of  his 
20 


An  Eventful  Night 

retirement,  why  the  unusual  ornamenta 
tion  of  pistols  upon  his  mantel  shelf,  why 
his  haste  and  embarrassment,  and  why  the 
man-eating  look  of  his  great  bloodhound, 
that  kept  privately  testing  the  sharpness 
of  his  yellow  fangs  on  the  legs  of  my 
trousers  ? 

You  may  suppose  that  I  did  not  remain 
suspiciously  silent  nor  show  myself  offen 
sively  curious  as  I  noted  all  these  little 
facts.  No.  Again  my  private  theatricals 
came  to  my  aid.  In  the  days  gone  by  I 
had  been  so  accustomed  to  carrying  on 
long  monologues  within  three  feet  of  the 
stage  villain,  and  keeping  accurate  watch 
of  the  cue  at  which  he  was  to  lay  me  un 
conscious  at  his  feet,  while,  to  the  audi 
ence,  I  appeared  perfectly  blind  to  his 
existence,  that  at  that  trying  time  I  was 
enabled  to  make  all  my  observations  and 
silently  kick  the  ugly  brute  which  had 
marked  me  as  suspicious,  without  drawing 
down  upon  my  head  anything  like  a  doubt 
ful  scrutiny  from  the  black,  restless  eyes 
of  my  mysterious  entertainer. 
21 


An  Eventful  Night 

He  gave  me  his  name  as  "  Brown," 
which  was  so  glaringly  commonplace  that 
I  privately  rejected  it,  and  could  only  be 
thankful  that,  in  his  preoccupation,  he 
paid  no  heed  to  mine.  I  seemed  to  be  a 
medical  man  to  him,  and  nothing  else. 
When  I  could  make  no  further  excuse  for 
delay  we  went  out  through  a  windy  pas 
sage,  and  began  mounting  some  stairs; 
scandalous  stairs  they  were,  too,  crooked 
and  steep,  and  so  badly  lighted  I  came 
near  raking  down  my  companion  in  a  gen 
eral  crash  before  I  grew  accustomed  to  the 
semi-darkness.  He  bore  with  me  pa 
tiently,  however.  "  We  are  dreadfully 
primitive  here,"  he  said  lightly;  "but  as 
yet  electricity  has  only  climbed  the  moun 
tain  in  its  natural  state." 

As  he  spoke  we  reached  an  upper  hall 
where  everything  was  in  total  darkness, 
and  when  I  paused,  half-expecting  the 
cold  muzzle  of  a  revolver  to  be  clapped 
against  my  head,  he  took  me  gently  by 
the  arm,  and  led  me  like  a  shambling 
dotard  down  its  winding  length,  nor 
22 


An  Eventful  Night 

seemed  to  notice  how  I  dragged  my  feet 
cautiously  along  the  carpeted  way  and  dug 
in  my  heels  at  each  fresh  turn,  so  full  was 
I  of  remembered  tales  of  yawning  pits  into 
which  victims,  such  as  I,  were  made  to 
fall.  Some  of  these  pits  had  been  lined 
with  naked  blades,  and  I  seemed  to  feel 
their  sharp  edges  spearing  at  my  joints. 
It  was  with  a  gasp  of  relief  I  paused  with 
my  guide  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  pas 
sage,  where,  after  a  clicking  sound  which 
I  could  have  sworn  was  the  turn  of  a  key 
in  the  lock,  he  swung  a  door  open  before 
me,  and  I  was  gently  pushed  into  the 
apartment  of  my  patient. 

While  I  was  down-stairs  in  the  presence 
of  my  dark-browed  companion  and  his 
evil-looking  animal,  with  the  combative 
thrill  of  suspected  danger  tingling  through 
my  veins,  I  wouldn't  have  imagined  that 
I  could  ever  feel  the  skulking  criminal  I 
did  when  I  at  length  realized  that  I  was 
actually  standing  in  the  apartment  of  some 
suffering  woman,  in  no  licensed  character, 
with  no  power  to  alleviate  her  sufferings, 
23 


An  Eventful  Night 

merely  there  as  a  frivolous  adventurer, 
though,  it  may  be  conceded,  an  unfortu 
nate  one.  Any  male  relative  would  have 
been  justified,  could  I  have  been  un 
masked,  in  then  and  there  pitching  me 
bodily  from  the  window.  Indeed,  at  that 
moment,  I  think  I  should  have  blessed 
the  avenging  foot  which  should  have  re 
moved  me  from  the  scene  of  my  confusion ; 
and  yet  had  any  one  searched  my  heart 
as  I  dragged  my  heels  heavily  behind  me 
across  the  threshold,  he  would  have  found 
it  so  filled  with  shame  and  contrition,  so 
abounding  in  respectful  compassion,  that, 
had  he  been  a  human  being,  he  would 
have  been  more  inclined  to  take  me  by  the 
hand  and  lead  me  forth  like  a  pitying 
elder  brother. 

A  small  white  bed  stood  in  one  corner, 
draped  about  with  some  pinkish  stuff,  just 
what  I  could  not  tell,  for  I  had  not  the 
temerity  to  more  than  glance  in  that  direc 
tion,  and  when  a  tall,  portly  woman  rose 
slowly  from  one  of  the  dark  corners  and 
confronted  me,  I  should  certainly  have  sunk 
24 


An  Eventful  Night 

grovelling  at  her  feet,,  had  she  so  much  as 
pointed  a  finger  of  suspicion  at  me. 

"How  is  she  now,  Mrs.  Hoskins? 
Still  unconscious?  "  asked  my  companion 
shortly.  He  seemed  filled  with  a  restless 
impatience,  and  looked  at  the  woman  as 
though  much  inclined  to  leap  at  her  throat 
and  drag  the  words  from  her,  without  wait 
ing  for  the  process  of  articulation. 

From  the  look  she  gave  him  I  gathered 
that  she,  too,  felt  that  time  was  grudged 
her,  but  she  was  of  a  rambling  habit  of 
thought,  and  could  not  concentrate,  what 
ever  the  need.  "  She's  been  a-laying  much 
as  you  see  her,  sir;  but  I  give  her  them 
drops,"  she  said  nervously.  "  That's  four 
she's  had  since  tAvelve,  counting — but  no, 
I  forgot — she  heaved  them  first  into  the 
wash-bowl." 

Her  employer  eyed  her  until  she  shifted 
uneasily  to  another  foot.  "  She  don't  take 
the  hot  milk  as  I  could  wish,"  she  ran  on, 
as  though  hoping  to  strike  something  pro 
pitious,  but  was  cut  short  by  a  stern  ges 
ture. 

25 


An  Eventful  Night 

"The  creature  fairly  drips  with  talk," 
my  host  muttered  irritably. 

"  Would  the  doctor  like  to  see  the  young 
lady  ?  "  asked  the  nurse  amiably,  while  at 
the  fatal  word  "young  "  I  came  well-nigh 
leaping  into  the  air,  and  a  species  of  death 
damps  broke  out  all  over  me. 

"It's  very  probable  he  would,"  came 
dimly  to  my  failing  senses.  "That  was 
my  main  object  in  sending  for  him." 

Dead  to  irony,  Mrs.  Hoskins  took  this 
able  stab  in  good  part,  and  with  a  loose 
motion  of  her  thumb  beckoned  me  to  fol 
low  her  as  she  approached  the  dainty  white 
bed.  For  a  full  moment,  as  it  seemed,  I 
stood  in  hang-dog  uncertainty,  and  then, 
as  the  woman  glanced  back  in  surprise,  I 
followed  her,  with  a  sinking  at  my  heart 
which  seemed  really  dangerous  to  its 
safety.  For  a  long  time,  as  it  seemed,  I 
walked  and  walked.  Then  a  curtain 
moved  aside;  some  one  held  up  a  smoky 
lamp  at  a  better  angle,  and  I  saw — I  shall 
never  forget  it — I  saw  before  me  one  of 
the  most  charming  women  I  had  ever  be- 
26 


An  Eventful  Night 

held  or  have  ever  since  beheld.  I  do  not 
say  that  she  was  pretty;  I  did  not  get  that 
far.  I  passed  the  analytical  stage  at  a  sin 
gle  bound.  But  I  know  she  was  charm 
ing,  with  her  crisp,  dark  hair  curling 
about  her  flushed  cheeks,  her  square  little 
chin  surmounted  with  scarlet  lips  and  the 
sauciest  little  nose  that  ever  defied  human 
ity  in  general.  How  she  was  dressed  I 
cannot  say,  only  that  it  was  in  something 
pink,  much  the  colour  of  the  bed  hang 
ings,  and  I  think  it  was  made  up  baggy, 
though  that  isn't  exactly  the  word  for  it 
either.  Her  eyes  were  closed,  for  which 
I  was  humbly  grateful,  for  had  she  looked 
at  me  during  those  first  dreadful  moments, 
she  must  have  read  me  like  an  open  book. 
Somebody  shoved  a  chair  under  me,  and 
I  sat  down  gratefully,  for  my  knees  were 
shaking  beneath  me;  and  then,  feeling 
that  the  eyes  of  both  Brown  and  Mrs. 
Hoskins  were  upon  me,  I  realized  that  I 
must  immediately  do  something  to  sustain 
my  professional  role.  I  must  question 
them,  that  was  plain;  but  what  to  ask! 
27 


An  Eventful  Night 

On  the  rare  occasion  when  I  had  been  in 
disposed,  back  in  my  boyhood  days,  it  had 
always  been  an  overloaded  stomach  that 
had  played  havoc  with  me,  and  it  was 
really  the  only  part  of  the  human  anatomy 
I  felt  up  on;  but  was  I  to  hint  at  indiges 
tion  with  this  fairy-like  creature  before 
me?  Never!  It  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  Her  nerves?  Happy  thought!  What 
could  be  a  safer  topic  than  the  nerves  of 
any  lady?  But  for  all  that,  my  voice 
sounded  hoarse  with  embarrassment,  and 
I  approached  the  subject  with  a  timid  deli 
cacy  that  would  have  admitted  me,  with 
out  a  chaperon,  into  the  very  heart  of 
any  nunnery  extant. 

"  Has — has  the  young  lady  exhibited  any 
degree  of  nervous  excitement  within  the 
last  few  days  ?  "  I  faltered.  "  Not  that  I 
wish  to  intrude" — but  here,  fortunately, 
the  loquacious  Hoskins  cut  me  short  before 
the  miserable  ending  of  my  speech  had 
fairly  escaped  my  traitor  lips. 

"  She  had  been  dreadful  oneasy  like," 
she  broke  forth  loosely,  her  eye  rolling  ner- 
28 


An  Eventful  Night 

vously  at  Brown,  who  was  standing,  grim 
and  statuesque,  beside  us.  "  But  young 
wimmen  is  that  way,  you  know,  mostly; 
it's  the  nater  of  them.  I  was  given  to 
them  spells  myself  some,  before " 

"  The  doctor  will  attend  to  your  symp 
toms  later  on,  Mrs.  Hoskins,"  broke  in 
Brown  frostily.  ' '  Please  favour  my  niece's 
case  with  your  entire  attention  at  present." 

"And  her  appetite?"  I  asked  hastily. 
"  Has  It  been  quite  normal,  or  has  she 
shown  caprice  in  that  also  ?  " 

I  was  getting  quite  proud  of  my  cross- 
examination,  and  a  growing  confidence 
lent  me  some  majesty  of  bearing.  It  was 
evident  that  not  the  faintest  suspicion  of 
fraud  had  been  as  yet  roused  in  the  mind 
of  either  Brown  or  Mrs.  Hoskins. 

"  She  never  do  eat  as  one  might  call 
heavy,"  exclaimed  the  latter,  poking  at 
the  pillows  about  the  young  lady's  head 
with  so  rough  a  hand  that  I  could  scarcely 
restrain  the  impulse  to  reach  out  and  drag 
her  back.  "  Some  days  she  picks  at  things 
quite  hearty,  and  then  she  won't  have  none 
29 


An  Eventful  Night 

of  'em,  and  I  am  at  a  great  to  do  to  find  a 
thing  as  she  will  have  brought  a-nigh  her." 

"  All  that  is  easily  accounted  for,"  broke 
in  Brown  harshly,  "  by  explaining  to  the 
doctor  that  she  is  a  very  high-spirited,  wil 
ful  young  lady.  I  should  not  have  paid 
the  slightest  attention  to  all  of  those  affec 
tations,  but  it  is  this  feverish  stupor  which 
has  alarmed  me.  I  have  made  every  effort 
to  rouse  her,  and  I  begin  to  think  that  it 
is  genuine." 

"  How  long  has  it  lasted  ?  "  I  asked,  my 
voice  coming  very  cold  and  hard  through 
shut  teeth  ;  for,  foolish  though  I  might  be, 
the  suspicion  that  those  efforts  had  not 
been  of  the  gentlest  took  possession  of  me. 

"Off  and  on,  for  a  day  past,"  broke 
out  Mrs.  Hoskins  as  though  choking  for 
speech.  "  Yesterday  she  took,  all  at  once, 
carrying  on  about  pains  in  her  spine  and 
acrost  her;  then  she  said  her  head  went 
giddy  on  her,  and  from  that  she  took  a  fit 
of  hysterics  quite  sudden,  and  a  lively 
time  I  had  of  it  I  can  tell  you.  What 

with " 

30 


An  Eventful  Night 

"Your  troubles  will  wait,  Mrs.  Hos- 
kins,"  broke  in  Brown  again,  to  whom 
her  garrulity  seemed  perfectly  intolerable. 
"  Does  she  seem  feverish  to  you,  Doctor  ?  " 

It  had  come !  For  several  moments  past 
my  eyes  had  been  wandering  to  a  slender 
white  hand  dropped  softly  upon  the  silken 
coverlet,  and  now  I  must  touch  that  hand, 
must  approach  near  to  my  supposed  pa 
tient,  though  she  lay  in  appealing,  help 
less  maidenhood  before  me,  and  I — I  had 
no  right  there.  There  was  nothing  for  it, 
however,  but  to  go  through  with  the  farce 
I  had  begun.  Very  cautiously  I  rose,  and, 
as  I  am  a  large  person  and  the  bed  was  a 
little  affair,  when  I  leaned  down  over  it, 
all  the  time  murmuring  prayers  for  my 
soul's  sake,  I  completely  obscured  its  occu 
pant  from  those  behind  me.  Timidly  and 
reverently  I  touched  the  small  hand — 
touched  and  closed  my  strong  fingers  about 
it,  with  a  clinging  protection  in  the  clasp 
I  could  not  control,  for  I  am  a  son  of 
Adam.  To  my  utter  undoing,  the  eyes, 
which  had  before  remained  closed,  swiftly 
31 


An  Eventful  Night 

and  cautiously  opened,  large  and  black, 
upon  me.  One  hasty  look  of  entreaty  and 
appeal  they  sent  down  straight  into  my 
soul,  while  the  fingers  I  had  well-nigh 
dropped  pressed  something  into  mine. 
The  eyes  closed  again,  and  I,  with  very 
little  breath  left  in  my  body,  stood  gaping 
vacantly  before  me. 

It  seems  scarcely  credible  to  me  now, 
that  so  strange  a  thing  could  happen,  and 
that  my  first  vivid  thought  after  a  flash  of 
delight  at  the  beauty  of  the  lady's  eyes 
should  be  a  bitter  rage  at  those  dreadful 
bandages  of  mine.  All  other  considera 
tions — the  probable  insanity  of  the  pa 
tient,  the  wonder  as  to  what  she  had 
forced  upon  me — were,  for  the  moment, 
absorbed  in  frivolous  regret  that  such  eyes 
should  have  taken  their  first  look  at  me 
whilst  a  silk  handkerchief  was  knotted 
about  my  head,  and  my  right  eye  glared 
upon  her,  swollen,  inflamed,  and  expres 
sionless.  My  poor  vanity !  Again  it  bent 
beneath  a  heavy  load  to  bear,  and  I  had 
no  leisure  in  which  to  bind  up  its  wounds. 
32 


An  Eventful  Night 

The  situation  was  growing  frightful. 
"Well?"  asked  Brown  curtly  at  my  el 
bow,  and  with  a  start  I  drew  back  and 
faced  him.  "Is  there  a  table  conve 
nient?"  I  asked  sharply,  and  then,  as  a 
sop  to  the  impatience  which  I  saw  racked 
him,  I  explained  condescendingly,  "as  I 
must  prepare  her  a  soothing  draught. 
Her  fever  is  running  pretty  high." 

With  that  I  snatched  up  the  medicine 
case,  which  seemed  to  follow  me  about 
without  any  intelligent  effort  on  my  part, 
and  made  over  to  the  corner  of  the  room 
to  which  slow-footed  Hoskins  had  ambled 
with  a  second  lamp. 

Evidently  boiling  with  irritation,  Brown 
flung  himself  into  a  chair  beside  the  bed, 
so  that,  after  ridding  myself  of  the  woman 
by  sending  her  for  a  glass  of  water,  I  was 
able  to  swiftly  and  stealthily  examine  the 
small  object  which  I  still  held  just  as  my 
fingers  had  closed  over  it.  That  it  was  a 
piece  of  paper  my  sense  of  touch  had  al 
ready  told  me ;  but  that  it  was  a  small,  torn 
sheet  of  note-paper,  covered  with  delicate 
3  83 


An  Eventful  Night 

writing  done  in  pencil  I  could  not  have 
dreamed,  and  yet  such  it  was.  Covertly 
I  began  to  examine  this  writing,  so  filled 
with  girlish  twirls  and  dashes  as  to  present 
a  pretty,  but  bewildering,  outlook  to  a 
business  eye,  in  the  meantime  keeping  my 
back  turned  squarely  upon  Brown,  who 
sat  like  some  huge  watchful  spider  beside 
the  dainty  white  bed,  and  holding  the 
paper  where  I  might,  at  a  second's  notice, 
crush  it  inside  the  medicine  chest  with 
which  I  was  apparently  fumbling.  The 
letter  began  at  once,  without  preamble: 
"  You  doubtless  have  daughters  of  your 
own" — I  stopped  abruptly,  feeling  dis 
tinctly  annoyed;  but  remembering  the 
writer  could  not  possibly  have  seen  me  be 
fore  commencing  her  letter,  I  continued 
my  reading  with  growing  excitement — 
"and  will  know  how  to  feel  for  a  poor 
girl,  utterly  in  the  power  of  a  horrid, 
mercenary  man.  I  don't  know  what  he 
has  told  you  about  me,  but  I  know  it  isn't 
true.  There  is  not  a  single  thing  the  mat 
ter  with  me,  but  I  took  some  stuff  for  colds 
34 


An  Eventful  Night 

I  found  in  a  bottle  to  make  something  hap 
pen  to  me,  so  that  they  could  send  for  a 
doctor.  Eor  I  know  doctors  have  to  be 
respectable.  It  gave  me  a  kind  of  fever 
ish  look,  and  that's  all.  Now  please,  help 
me  away  from  this  place  to-night,  this  very 
night,  without  letting  anybody  know,  for 
I  can't  stand  it  any  longer.  I  must  stop 
now,  for  Mrs.  Hoskins  is  coming. 

"  P.  S. — The  dog  is  kept  under  my  win 
dow;  and  oh,  yes,  I  can't  trust  Mrs.  H. 

"Distractedly." 

But  there  the  letter  ended.  No  name 
was  given,  though  to  sign  one  had  evi 
dently  been  the  intention  of  the  writer. 
And  with  barely  enough  sense  left  me  to 
thrust  the  paper  out  of  sight,  I  sat  in  help 
less  bewilderment  until  touched  heavily  on 
the  shoulder  by  Mrs.  Hoskins,  bearing  in 
her  hand  the  water  I  had  sent  for  and  a 
spoon. 

When  Brown  saw  that  I  had  been  inter 
rupted,  he,  too,  came  to  my  side,  and  the 
pair  grouped  themselves  about  me,  and 
stared  at  me,  expecting,  and  with  reason, 
35 


An  Eventful  Night 

that,  now  I  had  been  given  leisure  for 
thought,  lucid  ideas  must  begin  to  flow 
from  me,  while,  in  reality,  had  I  been 
tapped  for  speech  at  that  moment,  I  must 
have  babbled  forth  mere  scraps  of  the  per 
plexing  chaos  with  which  my  mind  was 
reeling. 

Was  the  girl  insane  ?  Was  it  my  duty 
to  hand  over  the  little,  crumpled,  confiding 
note  to  the  stern  dark  man  beside  me? 
Never!  Whether  the  girl  was  insane  or 
not,  that  note  was  mine.  If  insanity  had 
been  its  inspiration,  some  reverent  hand 
must  deal  with  its  own  folly.  If  not  in 
sane — what  then  was  expected  of  me? 
Why  was  I  warned  against  the  dog  be 
neath  her  window  ?  Could  it  be  that  she 
actually  meditated  a  theatrical  flight?  If 
so,  where  were  the  needed  ladders  ?  What 
was  to  be  done  with  the  dog  ? 

"  And  how  do  you  find  her,  sir  ?  "  broke 
in  Mrs.  Hoskins  cheerfully.  "  Pretty  bad, 
ain't  she?  I  had  a  niece  once  that  was 
took  the  same  way,  and  we  was  upwards  of 
three  days  a-gitting  her  to  sense  things. 


An  Eventful  Night 

If  she  would  only  take  a  little  nateral  sleep, 
now." 

Her  words  came  to  me  like  an  inspira 
tion.  "Blessed  be  thy  wagging  tongue, 
Hoskins;  oh,  long  may  it  wave!"  went 
up  my  mental  shout,  while  outwardly  I 
said  a  few  grave  things  about  "nerves" 
and  "mental  pressure,"  which  seemed  to 
hit  the  mark  somehow,  for  my  listeners  did 
not  jeer  me,  but,  on  the  contrary,  looked 
reasonably  impressed. 

"To  speak  candidly,"  I  exclaimed 
boldly,  while  I  was  groping  for  words  as 
though  grappling  with  a  foreign  tongue, 
"I  fear  congestion  of  the  nerve  centres, 
but  I  can't  be  sure.  There  is  nothing 
more  illusive  than  these  symptoms.  How 
ever,  I  shall  give  her  a  quieting  powder, 
and  in  three  or  four  hours  I  shall  be  able 
to  tell  exactly  how  much  we  have  to  fear." 

My  proposal,  which  involved  a  long  stay 
at  the  house,  was  not  pleasing — that  much  I 
could  gather  from  the  frown  upon  Brown's 
dark  face,  but  it  excited  no  suspicion,  and 
with  a  faint  gleam  of  hope  glowing  at  my 
37 


An  Eventful  Night 

heart  I  took  the  water  which  Mrs.  Hoskins 
was  still  holding,  and  after  pouring  out 
half  of  it  with  a  great  show  of  caution, 
managed,  while  apparently  mixing  it  with 
the  contents  of  a  small  black  bottle  which 
smelled  like  varnish,  to  drop  into  it  half  a 
chocolate  cream  which  I  deftly  extracted 
from  a  bon-bon  dish  on  the  table  at  which 
I  was  working.  Indeed,  I  felt  rather 
shocked  at  the  light-fingered  dexterity  I 
suddenly  developed ;  it  seemed  to  indicate 
an  aptitude  for  questionable  practices,  any 
thing  but  encouraging  to  contemplate. 

They  seemed  to  expect  that  I  would  ad 
minister  my  own  medicine,  but  after  cov 
ertly  rinsing  the  candy  about  as  long  as 
I  dared,  in  my  guilty  effort  to  dissolve  it 
and  colour  the  water  a  respectable  brown, 
I  handed  the  glass  sternly  to  Mrs.  Hos 
kins.  I  had  no  right  to  touch  the  impul 
sive  girl  who  had  thrown  herself  on  my 
honor,  under  the  false  impression  that  I 
must  be  some  peaceful  old  fellow,  with 
marriageable  daughters  and  all  that, 
though  how  she  could  have  expected  any 
38 


An  Eventful  Night 

such  antiquated  party  to  climb  about 
through  windows  and  toy  with  blood 
hounds  I  could  not,  nor  cannot  yet,  con 
ceive.  However,  her  innocent  blunders 
had  nothing  to  do  with  my  plain  course 
of  duty,  so  I  looked  on  with  what  grace  I 
might  while  the  clumsy  Hoskins  lifted 
upon  her  arm  the  slender  figure,  and 
forced  my  harmless  dose  between  the  scar 
let  lips,  devoutly  praying  the  while  that 
the  candy  had  all  dissolved. 

Very  neatly  did  the  patient  do  her  part. 
Not  even  a  professional  artist  could  have 
put  to  shame  her  restless  impatience,  the 
drowsy  opening  of  her  eyes,  and  their  soft 
closing. 

"  We  must  have  the  room  perfectly  quiet 
now,"  I  said.  "Mr.  Brown,  would  it  be 
possible  for  me  to  have  the  use  of  a  room 
next  to  this  for  an  hour  or  so  ?  The 
trouble  with  my  tooth  has  used  me  up 
badly;  but  what  can  I  expect?  When 
one  chooses  the  life  of  a  physician  he 
chooses  a  dog's  life,  let  him  be  clever  as 
he  will.  And  then  look  at  the  thanks  he 
89 


An  Eventful  Night 

gets.  Let  him  drag  a  man  out  of  his 
grave-clothes,  and  it's  Providence  that  gets 
the  credit,  but  let  the  man  die,  and  how 
quickly  Providence  is  let  off  scot  free." 

"  And  yet  a  doctor's  fee  is  not  a  bad 
thing  to  have  in  one's  pocket,  I  imagine," 
half-laughed,  half -sneered  my  companion. 
"But  come  below  with  me,  and  we  will 
have  them  set  us  out  some  lunch." 

As  may  be  imagined,  all  this  talk  had 
not  been  carried  on  in  the  sick-room. 
Gradually  we  had  drifted  out  into  the 
hall,  and  stood  there  lighted  dimly  by  a 
lamp  which  Mrs.  Hoskins  carried.  Of 
course  I  knew  I  must  not  go  below,  though 
the  suggestion  of  lunch  was  tempting  in 
deed  ;  so  I  still  held  to  my  ungracious  blus 
ter.  "  You  are  very  kind, "  I  said  severely. 
"  But  I  must  get  my  boots  off  and  cover  up 
warm.  We  physicians  need  some  care, 
though  our  patients  seem  to  doubt  it. 
However,"  I  added  more  graciously,  "I 
might  pick  at  a  little  cold  meat,  if  you 
would  send  it  up.  That  and  a  glass  of 
wine  wouldn't  be  at  all  bad." 
40 


An  Eventful  Night 

"You  shall  have  them  immediately," 
said  Brown.  "But  let  us  say  a  bottle  of 
wine  instead  of  a  glass;  and,  by  the  way, 
sir,  do  you  know  that  I  have  neglected  to 
get  your  name?  How  very  strange  you 
must  think  me,"  and  he  paused,  while  his 
foot  was  actually  raised  to  go  and  leave  me 
in  peace,  to  send  that  fatal  broadside  back 
into  my  shaky  breastworks. 

What  under  heavens  was  I  to  say  ?  What 
did  I  know  of  his  knowledge  of  the  people 
in  the  city,  where  I  was  almost  a  total 
stranger  ? 

"Well,  well,"  I  exclaimed,  with  a  hol 
low  laugh,  "this  is  droll  certainly,  but  I 
took  it  for  granted  that  your  servant  had 
explained." 

"I  have  not  seen  him,"  was  the  short 
reply,  and  Hoskins,  moving  forward  at 
that  moment,  I  stood  revealed  to  the  sharp 
eyes  of  my  host  in  all  the  glare  of  light 
which  the  small  lamp  could  boast. 

"I  am  Dr.  A ,  of  whom  you  have 

perhaps  heard,"  I  said  boldly,  setting  fire 

to  my  ships  with  an  unfaltering  hand. 

41 


An  Eventful  Night 

"  I  supposed  that  you  had  sent  directly  to 
me." 

"I  am  something  of  a  stranger  here," 
was  the  evasive  reply,  and  with  a  long  look 
at  me  he  was  gone,  leaving  me  in  a  state 
of  feverish  uncertainty  as  to  whether  I  was 
unmasked  or  not. 

Gladly  now  would  I  have  entered  the 
sick-room  alone,  on  some  pretext  or  an 
other,  in  hopes  of  a  last  word  of  explana 
tion,  but  the  slow-pacing  Hoskins  was  ever 
at  my  heels,  and  to  all  my  suggestions  that 
the  young  lady  should  be  left  entirely 
alone,  and  that  Hoskins  herself  might  take 
some  sleep  while  I  kept  watch,  she  brought 
forth  the  same  rambling  argument.  "A 
quilt  in  a  chair,  and  me  in  it,  couldn't  be 
in  any  ways  disturbing  to  one  more  accus 
tomed  to  company  than  to  be  without, "  she 
exclaimed  amiably,  until  I  gave  up,  fairly 
worn  out. 

I  took  possession  of  the  room  assigned  to 

me  as  soon  as  a  lamp,  a  fire,  and  a  neatly 

set  lunch-table  had  made  it  ready.     Once 

alone  inside  that  room,  the  door  shut  on 

42 


An  Eventful  Night 

all  intruders,  and  brought  before  the  bar 
of  sober  judgment,  I  felt  that  a  strait- 
jacket  was  all  I  lacked  for  a  fully  equipped 
madman.  Yet  condemn  my  folly  as  I 
would,  I  felt  no  desire  to  retreat.  Even 
then  I  might  have  crept  down-stairs,  on 
some  pretext  or  other,  have  slunk  from  the 
house,  and  made  off  without  much  chance 
of  detection.  But  there  I  sat,  turning  over 
and  over  again  every  project  that  presented 
itself  to  my  feverish  fancy  for  carrying  out 
the  scheme  of  the  crumpled  note,  which  I 
now  boldly  consulted. 

Consult  it  as  I  would,  however,  there 
was  nothing  more  to  be  got  from  it  than 
that  I  was  expected  to  help  a  perfect 
stranger,  a  young  girl  apparently  confined 
to  her  bed  with  a  serious  illness,  to  rise 
from  that  bed  and  bolt  through  a  second- 
story  window,  guarded  by  an  ugly  blood 
hound,  out  into  a  freezing  night,  in  the 
care  of  a  single  man,  of  so  reckless  a  char 
acter  that  he  had,  earlier  in  the  evening, 
hidden  himself  in  an  innocent  man's  car 
riage,  killed  that  helpless  man,  taken  his 
43 


An  Eventful  Night 

belongings,  and  was  now  foisting  himself 
upon  her  notice  under  an  assumed  name. 
A  black  outlook,  I  was  forced  to  admit,  and 
don't  mistake  me  by  imagining  I  made 
light  of  the  painful  circumstances.  I  de 
plored  them  deeply,  but  what  would  you 
have  had  ? 

Had  the  lady  been  plain,  reason  might 
have  spoken  with  a  louder  voice,  or,  at 
least,  its  faint  piping  have  been  listened 
to ;  but  as  it  was,  I  merely  decided  by  the 
time  my  lunch  was  finished  that,  if  any 
thing  was  to  be  done,  I  must  immediately 
set  in  action  some  one  of  the  many  opera 
tions  necessary. 

Hoskins?  What  was  to  be  done  with 
her  ?  And  then,  from  all  I  could  recall  of 
her  personality  beyond  her  loosely  balanced 
tongue,  and  the  fact  that  she  was  large  and 
dark,  one  little  thing  came  back  to  me 
which  brought  me  to  my  feet,  a  hopeful 
smile  struggling  with  the  swollen  melan 
choly  of  my  features.  She  had  a  very  red 
nose,  which  might  result  from  a  disordered 
stomach  and  might  not. 
44 


An  Eventful  Night 

Very  softly  I  opened  the  door  of  my 
room,  for  I  had  no  wish  to  disturb  the 
slumbers  of  the  rest  of  the  household,  and 
very  softly  I  tiptoed  to  the  door  of  the 
sick-room,  which  I  found  standing  a  few 
inches  ajar;  on  account  of  the  heat  I  sur 
mised,  for  I  could  feel  the  hot  air  fanning 
my  face  as  I  peered  in  cautiously  before 
entering. 

Everything  was  quiet.  The  bed  I  could 
not  see  plainly,  but  before  the  fire,  which 
was  blazing  brightly,  Mrs.  Hoskins  sat 
leaning  back  comfortably  in  a  huge  rocker, 
while  her  feet,  in  reckless  disregard  of  the 
laws  of  grace  and  decorum,  were  hoisted 
upon  a  second  chair,  where  they  had  slid 
from  the  red  woollen  blanket  which  had 
been  wrapped  about  them,  and  confronted 
me  as  I  approached,  huge  and  motionless 
in  their  grey  woollen  casings,  like  sentinels 
before  a  sleeping  city.  For  Mrs.  Hoskins 
was  sleeping.  But  even  as  I  saw  it,  and 
moved  back  with  my  heart  thumping  vio 
lently  at  the  swift  thought  that,  before 
waking  her,  that  word  of  explanation  I 
45 


An  Eventful  Night 

might,  as  my  right,  demand,  could  be 
spoken,  she  started  peevishly  awake. 

"  Lor'  a  mercy,"  she  muttered  pettishly, 
her  eyes  glaring  at  me  wild  and  bleared ; 
but  she  followed  me  willingly  enough  when 
I  beckoned  her  into  the  hall,  where  we 
might  talk  without  disturbing  our  patient. 

"  Was  she  took  any  way  that  you  heard  ?  " 
she  asked  in  a  hoarse  whisper,  her  mouth 
working  with  an  abortive  yawn.  "  I'm 
troubled  with  inflaming  of  the  lids,  an' 
set  mostly  with  my  eyes  shut.  It's  more 
saving  on  'em  than  glasses,  besides  being 
more  handy." 

"  I  have  been  thinking  over  all  possible 
causes  for  this  attack,"  I  exclaimed  with 
the  absorbed  air  of  a  medical  fanatic. 
"  Has  the  young  lady  been  in  the  habit  of 
drugging  herself  ?  Does  she  ever  use  opi 
ates  of  any  kind  to  make  her  sleep  ?  "  and 
I  glared  at  the  woman  as  sternly  as  the 
limited  use  of  my  right  eye  would  admit. 
Her  wits  were  fogged  with  sleep  and  stirred 
slowly,  but  after  staring  dully  at  me  for  a 
moment,  she  brightened  visibly,  evidently 
46 


An  Eventful  Night 

fired  with  the  hope  of  answering  and  get 
ting  rid  of  me.  "  Yes,  sir,"  she  answered 
eagerly,  "  she  do  sometimes  use  a  powder, 
an'  it's  often  an'  often  I've  told  her  she 
hadn't  orter;  but — she's  that  stubborn  and 
set,  you'd  hardly  believe  it,  when  she  gets 
a  notion." 

"  She  has  some  left  ?  Bring  them/'  I 
said  sternly.  "  I  shall  sift  this  matter  to 
the  bottom." 

"  Upwards  of  a  dozen,  I  should  say,  sir," 
and  with  a  step  heavy  with  sleep  she  moved 
away,  returning  after  a  few  moments  with 
a  small  green  box  in  her  hand.  "These 
are  Jum,"  she  said,  giving  vent  to  a  mighty 
yawn  which  had  been  convulsing  her  since 
she  started  from  her  sleep. 

"You  look  all  used  up,"  I  said,  fasten 
ing  a  professional  eye  upon  her.  "You 
need  something  to  brace  you  up.  Have 
you  nothing  in  there  that  you  can  take,  a 
little  wine,  now,  or  even  a  drop  of  straight 
whiskey  ? ' ' 

Ah,  I  had  not  been  mistaken.  Her  eyes 
lighted  greedily,  and  then  were  overcast 
47 


An  Eventful  Night 

with  helpless  resentment.  "  I  haven't  a 
drop  of  nothing,"  she  said  sullenly.  "  Mr. 
Brown  is  not  of  the  thoughtful  kind, 
and  makes  no  reckoning  of  the  wear  and 
tear  of  being  broke  of  one's  sleep  as  a 
stiddy  thing.  Them  that  goes  to  bed  reg 
ular,"  she  added  morosely,  "  can  little  esti 
mate  the  needs  of  them  that  must  set  awake 
in  their  hours  of  rest." 

"That  is  very  true,"  I  remarked  aus 
terely.  "  But  I  shall  have  a  word  to  say 
about  that  to-night.  I  can't  have  you 
wearing  out  suddenly  just  when  I  may 
need  you.  Wait  here  for  a  moment,"  and, 
highly  gratified  with  my  clever  trick,  I 
took  the  box  of  powders  and  hurried  back 
to  my  room,  where,  after  pouring  out  a 
liberal  glass  of  wine,  I  stood  debating  what 
next.  On  the  box  I  read,  "Miss  Bran 
don.  One  powder  every  hour  until  re 
lieved."  So  my  young  friend's  name  was 
Brandon.  ( ( Until  relieved  ' ' — that  meant, 
of  course,  until  she  should  fall  asleep.  But 
surely  if  one  powder  was  prescribed  for  so 
dainty  an  invalid,  at  least  double  that  dose 
48 


An  Eventful  Night 

should  be  allowed  for  the  great,,  robust 
creature  I  had  just  left,  and  hastily  shak 
ing  in  the  contents  of  two  of  the  folded 
papers,  I  rushed  back  into  the  hall  where 
my  victim  was  awaiting  me. 

With  what  pleasure  and  self-congratula 
tion  did  I  watch  her  drain  the  glass  to  its 
uttermost  dregs !  Then  we  separated ;  she 
going  her  way  to  fall  asleep,  as  I  told  my 
self,  inside  of  the  next  five  minutes,  and 
I  mine,  to  gloat  in  secret  over  the  easy  vic 
tory  I  had  won.  Five  minutes  I  waited  in 
restless  inaction,  and  then  felt  tempted  to 
go  and  view  my  work.  But  there  was  no 
hurry,  and  taking  a  chair  by  the  fire,  I  had 
determined  to  wait  patiently  for  another 
five,  when  the  sound  of  shuffling  steps  in 
the  hallway  outside  brought  me  to  my  feet 
in  vague  alarm. 

Had  my  fraud  been  discovered?    Had 

Dr.  A come  back  to  life  and  followed 

me  ?    My  hand  flew  to  my  pocket,  where  it 
grasped  a  small  penknife,  my  sole  weapon, 
when  the  door  opened,  and  in  walked  Mrs. 
Hoskins  in  a  state  of  feverish  excitement. 
4  49 


An  Eventful  Night 

She  was  carrying  a  box  in  her  hand,  a 
blue  one  this  time,  and  she  flung  it  down 
before  me  with  a  most  disrespectful  dis 
play  of  ill-temper.  "  Them's  the  sleeping 
powders,"  she  snapped,  laying  her  hand 
upon  her  head  with  a  reeling  motion  while 
I  stared  at  her  in  lively  horror.  "But 
how  is  one  to  tell,  with  writin'  worse  than 
them  as  don't  lay  claim  to  be  no  scholards  ? 
Lor'  help  me,  them  spirits  went  straight 
to  my  head,"  she  went  on.  "Which  is 
rightly  your  hand,  sir?"  snatching  va 
cantly  into  the  air  beside  me.  "  You  look 
to  have  a  dozent." 

What  had  I  done?  In  the  name  of 
mercy,  of  what  had  I  given  a  double  dose 
to  the  poor  creature?  Wildly  I  turned 
over  in  my  mind  all  possible  poisons  and 
their  antidotes:  milk,  oil,  whites  of  eggs, 
all  danced  before  me.  Women  sometimes, 
I  had  heard,  took  dreadful  things  for  their 
complexions.  Was  there  to  be  a  second 
corpse  on  my  hands  that  night  ?  And  yet, 
once  more,  it  had  not  been  my  fault. 

Rushing  at  the  tottering  woman,  I  got 
50 


An  Eventful  Night 

her  into  a  chair,  gazing  at  her  as  I  did  in 
such  an  agony  of  fear,  lest  she  drop  dead 
in  my  grasp,  that  she  took  the  alarm  her 
self,  and  making  certain  that  death  was 
near,  turned  such  a  greenish  white  that, 
without  reasoning  what  I  was  about,  I 
seized  another  tumbler  of  the  spirits  and 
dashed  it  down  her  throat,  with  scarcely 
more  caution  than  I  would  have  used  had 
I  pitched  it  into  the  kitchen  drain.  Fear 
of  her  immediate  death,  that  and  that 
only,  was  my  motive  in  stocking  her  thus 
heavily  with  the  strong  liquor,  and  what 
followed  cannot  be  laid  at  my  door,  ex 
cepting  in  the  form  of  an  unmerited  acci 
dent.  Yet  I  understand  there  are  those 
who  do  not  take  the  same  view  of  the 
matter. 

At  first  the  poor  creature  choked,  which 
I  will  admit  was  my  fault  in  that  I  forced 
the  liquor  on  her  so  abruptly.  I  was  sorry 
for  my  awkward  zeal,  and  aided  her  to  the 
best  of  my  power  to  regain  her  breath,  pat 
ting  her  violently  upon  the  back,  while  her 
gurgling,  though  deep,  was  low.  But 
51 


An  Eventful  Night 

once  she  had  passed  this  stage,  I  saw  what 
that  second  glass  had  done;  saw  reason 
leave  her  eye  and  give  place  to  a  silly  stu 
por;  saw  and  flung  a  pillow  upon  the  floor 
to  which  she  shambled  and  sank  down 
babbling. 

"I'm  feeling  very  comfortable,  thank 
you,"  she  gabbled  as  I  strove  to  drag  her 
farther  from  the  fire;  "  but  my  head  ain't 
what  it  should  be.  Too  much  setting  up 
of  nights  has  done  it." 

But  I  heard  no  more.  Fleeing  my  sec 
ond  victim,  I  hurried  across  the  hall,  to 
tap  as  light  as  a  feather  against  the  door 
of  the  sick-room,  though  had  my  own  ears 
been  all  I  cared  to  reach,  the  loud  thump 
ing  of  my  heart  at  that  moment  would 
have  equalled  the  booming  of  any  cannon. 

As  though  my  timid  knuckles  had 
touched  some  hidden  spring,  the  door  re 
sponded  instantly,  and  through  a  slight 
aperture  a  wisp  of  dark  hair  waved,  and 
the  gleam  of  a  fine  eye  shone  on  me,  as  a 
whispering  voice  asked  me  what  I  wanted. 

"It  is  I,"  I  faltered  idiotically,  forget- 
52 


An  Eventful  Night 

ting  that  I  had  as  yet  no  identity  with  my 
questioner  beyond  the  rather  vague  one  of 
a  medical  man.  "I'm  the  doctor,  you 
know,"  I  added  huskily,  my  tongue  refus 
ing  me  the  service  of  a  glib  lie. 

"  Oh,"  with  a  most  delightful  inflection, 
and  the  door  swung  an  inch  or  two  far 
ther  open;  but  in  place  of  accepting  this 
friendly  advance,  I  skulked  back  into  the 
shade  of  the  unlit  hall  like  a  sheepish 
assassin. 

"  Where  is  Mrs.  Hoskins  ?  "  came  in  the 
same  guarded  whisper.  "  Look  out  for 
her,  she  may  be  hiding  somewhere.  She 
does  that  lots,  and  then  dodges  out.  Oh, 
she's  just  horrid !  " 

"She  won't  now.  She — she's  asleep," 
I  faltered.  "  I  gave  her  something — some 
of  your  powders,"  but  no  sooner  had  I  ut 
tered  the  words  than  I  repented  my  con 
fession.  What  if,  after  all,  it  was  not  the 
wine  which  had  affected  her;  what  if  even 
then  she  was  breathing  her  last,  in  some 
horrid  death  agony!  The  thought  was 
sickening. 

53 


An  Eventful  Night 

"Oh,  oh,  how  awfully  clever!"  And 
there  was  a  sound  as  of  soft  hands  beaten 
together  gently.  "But  the  dog!"  was 
the  next  dismayed  exclamation.  "  They've 
let  him  out  again.  I  heard  him  champing 
about  down  there  just  a  moment  ago.  Oh, 
you  may  depend  on  it,  we  can  never  get 
out  if  he  isn't  done  away  with." 

I  had  forgotten  the  brute,  and  I  must 
confess  that  but  for  the  gleam  of  that  fine 
eye,  which  had  grown  plainer  and  devel 
oped  into  a  pair,  I  should  have  felt  much 
vexed  at  the  reminder.  If  I  could  only 
give  him  sleeping  powders !  My  ear  heark 
ened  painfully  for  the  slightest  sound  from 
the  room  I  had  left.  "  Oh,  I  think  we  can 
manage  the  dog  all  right,"  I  said  lightly, 
while  not  the  faintest  plan  as  to  how  I  was 
to  make  good  my  words  suggested  itself  to 
my  mind.  In  the  mood  I  then  was  I  could 
have  strangled  any  beast  with  my  naked 
hands,  and  relished  the  details  of  the  task 
at  that. 

"  Oh,  how  awfully  clever  you  are ! "  came 
in  an  admiring  gasp  from  behind  the  half- 
54 


An  Eventful  Night 

open  door.  "  But  if  you're  going  to  shoot, 
please  let  me  know  before  you  set  the  gun 
off,  or  I  shall  be  sure  to  scream.  I  always 
do." 

"I  shall  not  shoot,"  I  said  with  a  pa 
tience  begot  of  the  fine  eyes  and  fluffy  hair. 
"  It  wouldn't  do,  you  know.  The  noise 
would " 

"Why,  to  be  sure!"  with  a  soft  little 
laugh.  "  It  would  make  a  mess  of  every 
thing,  but  you  see  I'm  so  stupid.  Good 
bye  now.  I'll  get  dressed  and  be  all 
ready,"  and  the  door  shut  gently  in  my 
face,  leaving  me  standing  alone  in  the 
darkness  gaping  helplessly  about  me. 

"All  ready,"  she  said.  I  could  have 
laughed  aloud,  but  that  I  felt  more  in 
clined  for  tears.  All  ready  for  what? 
Well,  I  could  not  improve  matters  by 
standing  there,  so  with  a  reluctant  step 
I  turned  to  re-enter  the  chamber  I  had 
left. 

What  should  I  see?  A  horrid,  staring 
corpse,  a  miserable  frothing  object  all  but 
gone,  yet  with  strength  left  to  rise  and 
55 


An  Eventful  Night 

curse  me?  If  so,  good-bye  even  to  fine 
eyes  and  soft,  dark  hair.  I  had  stood  a 
great  deal  that  night,  but  there  were  limits, 
I  felt,  to  my  endurance. 

With  a  sinking  heart  I  pushed  the  door 
open,  only  to  jump  back  in  hysterical 
amazement.  The  woman  was  afoot  again, 
and  babbling  foolishly!  What  was  to  be 
done  ?  How  gladly  then  would  I  have  ex 
changed  her  for  the  corpse  I  had  so  dreaded 
to  see!  There  was  little  sense  in  what  she 
said,  but  I  made  out  that  she  was  looking 
for  Miss  Brandon,  and  I  managed  to  quiet 
that  cry  by  telling  her  Miss  Brandon  was 
asleep,  and  must  not  be  disturbed,  at  the 
same  time  tearing  about  in  search  of  some 
thing  to  do  with  her  while  she  trailed  at 
my  heels  with  dog-like  devotion. 

And  then  her  intoxication,  if  such  I  can 
call  it,  began  to  take  alarming  forms, 
which  preyed  dreadfully  on  my  conscience. 
Her  vision  grew  shockingly  distorted,  and 
what  with  her  resolution  to  follow  me 
about,  and  the  number  of  me  she  seemed 
to  see,  she  was  forever  taking  imaginary 
56 


An  Eventful  Night 

walks  with  me  in  parts  of  the  room  where 
I  was  not,  talking  as  readily  to  any  piece 
of  furniture  as  to  me,  and  never  finding 
out  her  mistake  unless  she  happened  to 
run  against  me. 

"  Heavings  above,"  she  would  whisper 
hoarsely  to  a  tall  dresser  by  the  window, 
"I  can't  rightly  make  out,  Doctor,  how 
it  is  you  come  to  be  so  leggy  all  of  a  sud- 
dint;"  and  then  to  the  washstand,  as  I 
chased  her  there :  "  Give  her  nateral  sleep, 
Doctor,  give  her  nateral  sleep,  and  she'll 
pull  through  somehow.  I've  said  it  be 
fore,  an'  I  say  it  now,  sleep  is  what  we 
need,  and  plenty  of  it." 

It  was  a  shameful  situation,  and  what 
was  worse,  I  distinctly  heard  steps  below. 
The  creature's  babbling  tongue  had  started 
some  one  awake.  With  a  desperate  hand 
I  jerked  open  the  next  door  to  me,  and 
when  I  found  it  admitted  me  to  a  small, 
dark  closet  I  did  not  hesitate.  "  Miss 
Brandon  is  in  here,"  I  hissed  in  the  wom 
an's  ear,  snatching  her  frantically  by  the 
arm.  "Go  in  and  lie  down  beside  her. 
57 


An  Eventful  Night 

It  will  keep  her  quiet,  and  then  you  can 
have  your  sleep  out." 

She  obeyed  me  in  the  same  dog-like  man 
ner  in  which  she  had  followed  me  about, 
and  although,  in  the  face  of  this  docility, 
it  seemed  a  brutal  act,  I  turned  the  key 
securely  upon  her,  feeling  an  almost  mur 
derous  thrill  of  satisfaction  as  her  murmur 
ing  died  away  in  the  denser  stupor  into 
which  the  confined  air  of  the  place  plunged 
her. 

And  none  too  soon  did  those  mutterings 
cease,  for  I  now  distinctly  heard  steps 
mounting  the  stairs,  with  evident  care  not 
to  tread  too  roughly.  Not  daring  to  meet 
any  questioner  where  I  then  was,  I  rushed 
softly  into  the  hall,  where  the  happy  con 
ception  seized  me  of  affecting  to  be  just  on 
the  point  of  leaving  the  sick-room,  when 
my  visitor  should  come  up.  It  was  well, 
though,  that  the  darkness  of  the  hall  con 
cealed  my  guilt-stained  features,  or  the 
merest  child  must  have  detected  some  mis 
chief  brewing. 

"  Is  that  you,  Doctor  ?  "  came  in  a  growl- 
58 


An  Eventful  Night 

ing  whisper  from  Brown,  while  a  firm,  cool 
hand  seized  me  so  suddenly  I  all  but 
shrieked,  so  shattered  was  my  self-control. 

"  What  in  the are  you  up  to,  anyhow  ? 

It  sounded  as  though  a  pair  of  you  were 
dancing  the  minuet.  I  thought  an  order 
for  quiet  was  given." 

"And  so  it  was/'  I  managed  to  say 
coldly,  as  a  man  without  humour  who  feels 
himself  affronted  with  a  jest.  "  But  I 
hope  that  does  not  interfere  with  Mrs. 
Hoskins  heating  flannels  at  my  orders  for 
your  niece,  now  that  her  fever  has  suddenly 
left  her." 

Brown  gave  a  soft  whistle.  "  To  be  sure 
not,"  he  said  with  more  civility;  "I  in 
tended  no  disrespect,  I  assure  you,  but 
kindly  ask  Hoskins  to  toe-and-heel  it  in 
her  stocking  feet  hereafter." 

"  Sir!  "  exclaimed  I  irritably. 

"  I'm  a  wretched  sleeper,"  he  explained, 
coming  hastily  back  to  dignified  discourse, 
"and  Hoskins  should  know  it.  I  can't 
imagine  how  she  had  the  temerity  to  go 
crashing  about  so." 

59 


An  Eventful  Night 

Shivering  like  a  wind-swept  reed,  I 
waited  for  him  to  demand  that  he  should 
see  his  niece,  or  call  for  the  disgraced  Hos- 
kins,  but  these  trials  were  not  laid  upon 
me,  for  now  with  a  restless  yawn  he  left 
me,  after  a  mild  hope  for  the  further  im 
provement  of  his  niece,  and  when  the  last 
echoes  of  his  steps  had  died  away  I  crept 
back  to  the  room  I  had  left,  and  stood 
trembling  there  for  some  moments  before 
I  could  be  certain  that  he  had  really  gone, 
with  no  suspicion  to  bring  him  creeping 
up  those  stairs  again. 

For  ten  minutes  I  waited,  while  the  house 
was  silent  as  the  grave.  Not  a  board 
creaked,  not  a  curtain  rustled.  Then, 
drawing  off  my  shoes,  I  made  softly  across 
to  a  window  which  I  reasoned  must  look 
out  upon  the  place  where  the  ferocious 
bloodhound  lurked.  Inch  by  inch,  like 
a  trained  housebreaker,  I  raised  the 
sash,  my  heart  stopping  dead  still" at  the 
faintest  creak,  then  rushing  on  with 
congestive  jerks  at  an  easy  slide,  until 
finally  it  was  propped  up  at  a  height  to 
60 


An  Eventful  Night 

admit  of  putting  out  my  head  and  shoul 
ders. 

Cautiously  I  peered  forth  into  the  dark 
ness  ;  for  dark  it  was,  with  only  a  star  glim 
mering  here  and  there,  and  nothing  but 
faint  outlines  of  the  jagged  mountain 
peaks  showing  themselves  against  the  sky. 
The  air  was  keen  and  cold,  and  the  ground 
covered  with  a  skim  of  hard,  dry  snow.  A 
nice  night,  indeed,  for  people  to  be  launch 
ing  themselves  from  second-story  windows 
and  taking  to  their  heels  through  unknown 
frozen  districts! 

"  We'll  end  up  at  the  bottom  of  a  canon 
with  a  fractured  bone  or  two  for  company," 
I  muttered  as  I  let  my  gaze  roam  despon 
dently  about.  "  There's  the  dog,  sure 
enough,"  as  my  eyes,  becoming  more  ac 
customed  to  the  darkness,  made  out  a  mov 
ing,  black  body  on  the  snow  beneath. 

It  is  one  thing  to  look  down  at  a  dog 
from  a  second -story  window,  and  another, 
and  quite  a  different  thing,  to  rid  yourself 
quietly  of  him.  On  any  other  night  I 
should  have  exclaimed,  "  Impossible,"  and 
61 


An  Eventful  Night 

tamely  closed  the  window.  But  on  this 
special  night  my  mind  seemed  fairly  lurid 
with  bright  thoughts.  I  suddenly  sped 
back  to  the  table,  clutched  the  napkin 
from  my  lunch  tray,  and  found  that  I  had 
not  exhausted  the  generous  supply  of  cold 
meat  sent  up  for  my  refreshment.  With 
trembling  fingers  I  spread  out  the  contents 
of  the  medicine  chest  upon  a  chair  close 
by,  and  began  in  a  purblind  fashion  to 
study  the  different  labels. 

Confusion  seized  upon  my  mind  at  the 
first  row.  How  could  medical  men  pre 
tend  to  understand  such  gibberish?  My 
mind  had  not  been  neglected  in  my  youth, 
and  yet  I  could  make  nothing  of  it.  De 
feat  stared  me  in  the  face ;  but  with  a  cold, 
proud  smile,  I  counted  the  number  of  bot 
tles  I  had  before  me.  Then  with  a  few 
bold  slashes  I  had  the  meat  quartered  and 
lying  ready  to  my  hand. 

This  done,  and  the  bottles  divided  into 
four  different  sets,  and  ranged   conven 
iently  about  me,  my  real  work  began.     The 
first  relay  of  bottles  came  to  me  in  the 
62 


An  Eventful  Night 

form  of  powders.  I  dipped  section  number 
one  of  my  meat  supply  in  the  milk  jug  be 
fore  I  attempted  to  smear  it  over  with  as 
much  of  the  powdery  stuff  as  I  could  make 
hang  on,  being  careful  to  take  a  fail- 
amount  from  each  bottle,  in  hopes  that  in 
some  one  of  them  lay  the  deadly  drug  I 
sought.  It  was  remarkable  how  much  I 
made  that  piece  of  cold  beef  hold.  When 
not  another  grain  would  stick  I  gathered 
it  up  gingerly,  crept  to  the  window,  took 
accurate  aim,  and  flung  it  straight  at  the 
feet  of  the  restless  animal. 

They  must  have  kept  the  brute  half 
starved,  for  with  a  plunge  and  a  snap  he 
seemed  to  catch  the  morsel  while  it  was 
yet  in  the  air.  But  nothing  happened; 
his  restless  walk  went  on,  and  impatiently 
I  rushed  back  to  my  ghastly  work.  This 
time  it  was  liquids  with  which  I  had  to 
deal,  and  my  work  was  easier,  but  how 
they  smelled !  The  house  seemed  reeking 
with  their  biting  fumes,  and  it  was  with 
streaming  eyes  I  again  sought  the  window, 
and  stood  with  my  second  prescription  sus- 


An  Eventful  Night 

pended  over  the  hazy  space  below.  No 
need  to  peer  about  in  the  darkness  now  in 
search  of  my  restless  prey.  The  animal 
expected  me,  and  crouched  directly  be 
neath  my  window,  where  the  light  from 
the  lamp  shone,  upon  his  gaunt  frame,  re 
vealing  him  with  his  huge  jaws  distended; 
a  pretty  sight  for  one  who  might  at  any 
moment  be  pitched  forth  to  become  his 
midnight  lunch.  Out  went  my  second 
lot.  I  could  see  him  plainly  this  time. 
He  met  it,  his  full  length  from  the  ground, 
with  an  appetite  perfectly  disheartening. 
Not  even  its  horrid  smell  fazed  him,  and 
down  it  went  with  a  dreadful  champing 
sound. 

While  completely  discouraged,  I  turned 

again  to  the  table.     What  did  Dr.  A 

keep  in  his  chest,  anyhow  ?  Drugs  de 
signed  solely  for  the  use  of  teething  chil 
dren  ?  And  yet  who  could  tell  ?  Perhaps 
my  method  might  be  bad.  I  might  be 
doing  up  poisons  and  antidotes  in  the  same 
bundle.  This  time  I  mixed  powders  and 
liquids  with  an  impartial  and  liberal  hand, 
64 


An  Eventful  Night 

but  it  was  with  only  the  faintest  hope  that 
I  gathered  up  my  third  dose,  and  again 
sought  my  post  at  the  window.  The  dog 
was  not  there !  Was  not  there,  nor  was  he 
dead !  I  could  see  him,  see  him  plainly,  if 
that  mass  of  moving  snow  and  fur  could 
be  a  dog.  Faint,  angry  yelps  rose  from 
the  tossing  heap,  and  my  heart  stood  still. 
Then,  suddenly,  as  I  looked,  the  mass  took 
shape,  and  rose  and  ran  as  nothing  de 
pendent  on  mere  legs  ever  ran  before,  melt 
ing  away  into  the  darkness  beyond,  with  a 
long,  low  howl  which  struck  stone-cold 
upon  my  fainting  heart. 

"We  are  undone,"  I  all  but  cried,  for 
that  mournful  howl  must  set  even  the 
cocks  crowing  upon  their  roosts!  Then 
came  the  thought  that  speed  might  even 
yet  save  us,  for  once  outside,  who  was  to 
follow  us  in  such  darkness,  with  enough 
and  more  than  enough  of  caverns  about 
into  which  we  might  crawl  and  evade  pur 
suit?  Why  we  were  doing  it  at  all,  and 
what  right  we  had  to  evade  pursuit,  I  had 
no  time  to  consider  as  again  I  fled  the 
5  65 


An  Eventful  Night 

room,  which  was  strewn  all  about  with 
evidences  of  my  late  traffic  in  animal  life. 
The  disordered  boxes  which  had  been 
handed  me  by  the  now  helpless  Hoskins; 
the  uncorked  medicine  phials,  all  spoke 
loudly  to  me  of  my  deadly  work,  and  I 
could  but  feel  like  some  beast  of  prey 
creeping  from  its  lair,  as  I  stole  out  and 
closed  the  door  behind  me. 

This  time  my  knock  at  the  door  of  the 
second  chamber  was  less  guarded,  for  my 
nerves  were  getting  into  a  horrible  state; 
but  it  was  not  so  quickly  answered,  and  I 
was  growing  alarmed,  when  it  was  flung 
wide  open,  though  very  noiselessly,  and 
Miss  Brandon  stood  before  me,  not  dressed 
in  her  flowing  robes,  but  in  a  trim  suit  of 
black,  such  as  you  might  see  a  dozen  of 
any  day  in  a  well-dressed  crowd,  only  they 
would  not  all  be  so  becoming  to  their  own 
ers.  Over  this  she  wore  a  short  fur  coat. 
Her  hair  was  tucked  away  under  a  cap  to 
match,  and  there  she  stood,  looking  so 
warm,  so  fresh  and  smiling,  that  somehow 
the  memory  of  my  bandages  came  back  to 
66 


An  Eventful  Night 

me,  filling  me  with  such  a  sense  of  defor 
mity  and  inferiority  that  I  think  my  bear 
ing  took  colour  from  the  morbid  abasement 
of  my  mind. 

I  know  that  I  held  my  right  eye  with 
one  hand  while  I  talked  to  her,,  and  that  I 
shuffled  on  my  feet  as  she  looked  at  me, 
while  I  bit  my  tongue  to  keep  from  crying 
aloud  that  I  was  not  the  bloodless  old  do 
tard  she  so  fondly  dreamed  me  to  be. 

"  Oh,"  she  burst  out  in  an  excited  whis 
per  as  soon  as  her  eyes  fell  on  me,  "you 
do  think  of  the  funniest  things !  ISTow  tell 
me  whatever  you  have  done  to  that  dread 
ful  dog  to  make  him  go  running  about  so, 
scratching  things!  " 

"  Did  you  hear  him  yelping  ?  " 

"I  guess  that's  what  dogs  do.  I  was 
just  sure  he'd  wake  everybody  up,  weren't 
you  ?  " 

I  had  been,  indeed,  and  yet  was.  At 
that  very  moment  I  fancied  I  could  hear 
some  one  moving,  and  bracing  up  my  man 
hood,  I  spoke  decidedly  in  spite  of  those 
things  about  my  jaw. 
67 


An  Eventful  Night 

:<  We  must  go  at  once/7  I  said,  moving 
into  the  room  with  a  cat-like  step.  "  Will 
you  be  able  to  hang  on  to  one  end  of  a 
blanket  while  I  lower  you  from  the  win 
dow?77 

I  dared  not  look  at  her  while  I  made 
this  cool  proposal,  for  I  fully  expected  her 
to  turn  pale  and  shrink  back;  besides,  the 
horrid  suspicion  haunted  me  that,  even 
should  she  consent,  it  would  end  in  her 
completing  my  list  of  victims,  and  what 
with  the  doctor,  Mrs.  Hoskins,  and  the 
dog,  I  was  sickened  of  blood. 

To  my  amazement  she  laughed— a  de 
lightful,  gentle,  little  chuckle  which  made 
me  long  more  keenly  than  ever  to  bury  the 
snuffy  old  doctor  and  rise  myself  to  fill  his 
shoes. 

"  Oh,  how  perfectly  killing  it  will  be!  " 
she  whispered,  seeking  for  sympathy  in 
the  depths  of  my  dull,  swollen  eye.  "  See ! 
The  window  is  all  ready  for  us.  I  was  put 
ting  it  up  when  I  saw  the  dog.'7 

Suddenly  I  started,  stabbed  to  the  heart 
with  fresh  trouble.  I  had  dragged  a 
68 


An  Eventful  Night 

blanket  from  the  large  chair  in  which  Mrs. 
Hoskins  had  been  sitting,  and  was  testing 
its  strength  as  best  I  could,  when  it  oc 
curred  to  me  that  all  my  out-door  apparel 
was  down-stairs.  I  certainly  could  not 
venture  out  on  such  a  night,  not  knowing 
how  long  I  might  remain  dodging  about, 
without  some  sort  of  covering,  yet  I  dared 
not  go  down-stairs  in  search  of  mine. 

"  My  cap  and  coat,"  was  the  cry  wrung 
from  me  in  my  distress.  Instantly  my 
companion  grasped  the  situation  with  smil 
ing  composure. 

"  Are  down-stairs, "  she  finished  for  me. 
"  Of  course  we  can't  think  of  going  to  get 
them,  but  there  are  some  of  Mrs.  Hoskins' 
things  here  that  will  do.  She's  so  dread 
fully  big,  you  know/'  and  before  I  could 
prevent  her,  she  had  dived  into  a  closet 
close  at  hand,  from  which  she  emerged 
presently,  triumphantly  holding  up  to  my 
view  a  large  grey  and  black  plaid  shawl 
and  one  of  those  many-coloured  woollen 
bags  known  as  "toboggan  caps."  It  was 
the  last  straw  to  my  overburdened  vanity! 
69 


An  Eventful  Night 

Wear  them!  I  could  have  snatched  them 
from  her,  flung  them  on  the  floor  at  her 
feet,  and  stamped  upon  them,  but  for  the 
added  absurdity.  And  then,  too,  what 
awkward  evidence  in  the  shape  of  card- 
case,  marked  handkerchief,  or  other  fatal 
trifle  might  I  not  leave  in  the  pockets  of 
my  abandoned  coat ! 

Insulted,  perplexed,  and  downright  an 
gry,  I  stood  glaring  about  me,  but  before 
I  had  voiced  my  annoyance  a  faint  sound 
below  put  flight  to  all  thought  of  more 
trifling  discomforts.  Some  one  was  mov 
ing  cautiously,  whether  towards  us  or  from 
us,  to  seek  or  avoid,  I  could  not  tell;  but 
it  decided  me  to  haggle  no  longer  over  my 
appearance,  good  or  bad.  Literally  snatch 
ing  the  horrible  headgear  from  Miss  Bran 
don,  who  was  tranquilly  kneading  it  into 
shape,  I  crammed  it  down  about  my  ears, 
feeling  a  certain  savage  delight  in  the  self- 
torture  I  inflicted. 

"It  will  be  warm,  anyway,"  murmured 
my  companion,   with  a  glance  of  kindly 
amusement  which  I  haughtily  ignored. 
70 


An  Eventful  Night 

"  Come/'  I  said  briefly,  snatching  up 
the  blanket,  "we  have  not  a  second  to 
lose/'  and  I  rushed  stealthily  to  the  open 
window,  and  flung  out  in  advance  the  shawl 
which  was  to  serve  me  as  a  covering,  Miss 
Brandon  following  me  in  a  state  of  what, 
I  could  plainly  see,  was  pleased  excitement. 

The  window  was  high  up  from  the  floor, 
and  as  we  stopped  before  it  she  looked 
into  my  swollen  eye  with  a  face  of  innocent 
expectation:  "I  can't  get  up  there  alone, 
you  know,"  she  whispered,  and  with  an 
almost  audible  groan  I  put  my  arm  gin 
gerly  about  her  fur-clad  waist,  and  the 
next  instant  she  was  sitting  with  her  feet 
outside,  holding  towards  me  her  ungloved 
hands  for  the  blanket.  The  morbid  fear 
which  possessed  me  that  she  was  to  make 
my  fourth  victim  was  not  lessened  by  that 
moment  in  which  I  held  her  in  my  arms, 
and  as  she  grasped  the  quilt  with  two  small 
white  hands  and  looked  at  me  with  a 
friendly  nod,  to  tell  me  that  she  was  ready 
for  the  drop,  I  felt  every  particle  of 
strength  leave  my  body. 
71 


An  Eventful  Night 

"Come  back,"  I  faltered,  but  she  was 
over  the  side,  and  with  desperate  hands  I 
clutched  the  blanket. 

It  seemed  so  short.  Had  I  miscalculated 
the  height  of  the  window?  I  dared  not 
look  down  as  I  leaned  far  out,  giving  the 
full  length  of  my  arms  to  the  clumsy  con 
trivance.  Suddenly  the  weight  left  it. 
Had  she  fallen  ?  My  eyes  seemed  glazed 
as  I  turned  them  downwards.  There  was 
a  black  heap  upon  the  snow  beneath.  "Was 
she  living  or  dead  ? 

But  now  again  sounded  that  step  below. 
It  seemed  nearer  this  time.  It  was  com 
ing  upstairs,  coming  softly,  and  pausing 
on  each  step,  as  though  some  one  had 
stopped  to  listen.  It  had  a  horrid  sound 
in  that  gloomy  house,  and  I  seemed  to  see 
a  dark  face  gliding  toward  me,  a  white 
hand  uplifted,  to  hush  the  very  echoes 
that  he  might  hear.  I  had  meant  to  do 
many  things  the  time  for  which  was 
passed.  The  closet  door — I  had  meant  to 
unlock  it  upon  the  hapless  Hoskins,  but 
now  the  feet  had  reached  the  hall.  With 
72 


An  Eventful  Night 

a  warning  hiss  for  my  conspirator  below, 
I  swung  myself  from  the  window  and 
dropped,  speculating,  even  while  I  fell, 
on  the  probable  length  of  my  life  should 
some  part  of  me  double  up  and  strike 
wrong  in  my  mad  plunge. 

The  window  was  either  higher  than  I 
had  calculated,  or  I  fell  upon  slanting 
ground,  for  I  struck  so  solidly  that  I  had 
the  breath  knocked  out  of  me,  and  when 
my  senses  became  clear  again,  I  found  that 
Miss  Brandon  had  set  me  upright,  and  was 
dabbing  at  me  with  frozen  snow,  and  set 
ting  my  cap  straight  upon  my  head,  with 
a  freedom  she  would  never  have  exercised 
had  she  not  learned  to  regard  me  as  a 
harmless  married  creature  who  could  safely 
be  tumbled  about. 

Thrusting  aside  the  snow  with  no  gentle 
hand,  for  her  daughterly  care  was  growing 
perfectly  intolerable,  I  was  instantly  upon 
my  feet. 

"Run,"  I  whispered,  and  we  ran,  she 
like  a  spirited  young  deer  in  its  first  en 
counter  with  the  hounds,  and  I — really, 


An  Eventful  Night 

after  the  way  I  spun  along  that  night,  I 
cannot  see  how  she  could  suspect  such  a 
pair  of  heels  as  I  showed  to  the  old  house 
behind  us  of  having  learned  to  potter 
about  in  carpet  slippers. 

Quick  as  our  flight  had  been,  it  was  be 
gun  none  too  soon;  for  by  the  time  the 
darkness  swallowed  us,  the  whole  house 
seemed  suddenly  to  blaze  up  with  hurry 
ing  lights,  while  a  loud  shout  reached  us 
and  increased  our  pace.  Suddenly,  right 
in  our  path,  a  man  sprang  up,  waving  his 
arms  before  us,  as  at  a  runaway  horse.  He 
may  have  been  a  harmless  citizen.  Possi 
bly  he  was  only  startled  at  our  sudden  ap 
pearance,  but  as  to  that  I  shall  never  be 
certain,  for  I  had  no  time  to  question  him 
nor  reason  with  him.  All  that  I  could  do 
was  to  knock  him  down,  which  I  did  with 
such  brutal  awkwardness  that  he  collapsed 
without  a  struggle,  and  my  knuckles  were 
badly  grazed  against  the  poor  creature's 
skull. 

"  Dear  me,  I  hit  too  hard,"  I  muttered, 
in  answer  to  a  little  shriek  from  Miss 
74 


An  Eventful  Night 

Brandon,  and  then  we  brought  up  against 
a  stone  wall,  on  a  level  with  my  head  as  to 
height,  and  jagged  as  broken  glass. 

"  Oh,  my  gracious!  "  gasped  Miss  Bran 
don.  "  Whatever  will  we  do — and,  say, 
do  you  think  the  man  is  dead  ?  " 

"  More  than  likely/'  I  groaned,  making 
a  grim  note  of  my  fourth  victim.  "  Can 
you  jump,  Miss  Brandon?" 

"Yes,  yes.  Oh,  do  hurry!  "  she  whis 
pered;  and  taking  her  waist  in  both  hands, 
I  gave  her  a  mighty  lift,  which  she  sec 
onded  with  a  spring  so  light  that  it  set  her 
upon  the  top  of  the  wall,  gazing  anxiously 
down  at  me,  at  least  I  judged  her  to  be 
anxious  by  her  voice. 

"How  will  you  ever  make  it?"  she 
whispered,  leaning  down  until  I  was  in 
agony  lest  she  should  fall.  "Dear  me, 
your  poor  hands!  Oh,  oh!"  in  pitying 
horror,  as  I  dug  my  way  up  the  side, 
breathless  and  bloody,  nearly  losing  my 
unsightly  cap,  and  suffering  the  ignominy 
of  having  her  again  clap  it  upon  my  head. 

"  However  do  you  keep  so  limber  ?  "  she 
75 


An  Eventful  Night 

murmured  admiringly,  as,  gnashing  my 
teeth  at  her  friendly  service,  I  sat  for  one 
second  to  catch  my  breath.  "  I  hope  you 
didn't  kill  that  man,  though.  You  must 
have  hit  him  in  the  wrong  place." 

"I'm  afraid  I  did,"  I  stammered  guilt 
ily.  "  We  were  running  hard,  you  know." 

"Yes,  I  know,"  she  said  hastily  and 
soothingly,  and  then  severely:  "Coming 
on  to  you  in  the  dark  that  way,  how  could 
he  expect  to  be  hit  right  ?  ' ' 

"We  must  go,"  I  said.  "Are  you 
ready?" 

"  Yes,  and  I  have  your  shawl,"  she  said 
sweetly. 

' '  My  shawl !  "  At  that  moment  I  would 
have  frozen  to  a  brittle  mass  before  I  would 
have  touched  the  thing,  but  I  was  still 
warm  from  running,  so  my  manhood  was 
not  tempted.  Down  I  went  on  the  oppo 
site  side  of  the  wall.  At  the  same  moment 
I  saw  the  door  burst  open  by  some  one, 
who  rushed  headlong  into  the  yard. 
"  Quick!  quick!  "  I  called  to  my  compan 
ion,  and  without  a  question  as  to  why,  she 
76 


An  Eventful  Night 

dropped  tranquilly  into  my  arms,  a  deli 
cate  shape,  all  warm  and  furry. 

"Do  you  know  which  way  to  go  ?  "  I 
muttered,  as  I  quickly  released  her. 

"  I  haven't  the  faintest  idea,"  came  the 
cheerful  whisper,  and  then  we  were  off 
running  again,  with  more  care  of  our 
strength,  this  time,  and  I  possessed  by 
lively  expectations  that  at  any  moment 
we  might  puncture  some  snowdrift  and 
find  that  it  was  but  the  upper  crust  of  a 
bottomless  abyss.  The  main  road  we  must 
not  take,  even  could  we  find  it,  which 
seemed  anything  but  likely;  and  we 
plunged  about,  knee-deep  in  snow.  Blank- 
ness  of  fear  settled  on  me  as  I  realized  the 
dangers  we  were  facing.  "  Who  ever  saw 
anything  so  pitchy-blank  as  this  night?" 
I  exclaimed,  peevish  with  alarm  for  my 
companion ;  for  myself,  the  gallows  seemed 
so  imminent  that  all  lesser  terrors  paled 
before  it. 

"  Yes,  but  it's  the  only  thing  that  saves 
us,  you  know,"  tranquilly  observed  Miss 
Brandon,  as  I  picked  her  out  of  a  small 
77 


An  Eventful  Night 

ditch.  "But  what's  that  snuffling  about 
so  ?  "  and  she  shrank  towards  me  in  a  way 
that  shook  my  moral  nature  again  to  its 
very  centre. 

It  was  the  dog.  A  changed  dog,  indeed, 
with  all  its  fury  spent,  and  nothing  much 
you  could  call  dog  left  about  it,  but  a  drag 
gled  shape  and  tumbled  fur;  yet  still  dan 
gerous  to  us  if  it  was  disposed  to  haunt  our 
path,  for  who  could  tell  at  what  moment 
it  might  break  out  into  the  melancholy 
baying  which  had  before  alarmed  us. 

"  I  must  kill  it,"  I  muttered  to  myself, 
but  Miss  Brandon  heard  me,  and  faintly 
screamed. 

"Oh,  dear,"  she  wailed,  "what  dread 
ful  things  we  seem  to  be  doing  all  of  the 
time !  First  that  man,  and  now  the  dog. 
It  makes  us  seem  like  bloody-minded  crea 
tures." 

"  Run  on  a  few  steps,  please,  to  that 
tree,"  I  said  gently. 

With  a  little  shudder  she  obeyed  me, 
putting  her  fingers  in  her  ears  as  she  ran, 
while  I,  pouncing  like  a  huge  bat  upon 
78 


An  Eventful  Night 

my  prey,  soon  put  as  merciful  an  end  to 
him  as  possible,  considering  my  only  weapon 
was  my  pocket-knife. 

Once  dead,  though,  he  must  be  hidden, 
and  in  great  haste  I  tumbled  snow  and 
brush  upon  him.  Then — for  I  either 
heard  voices  or  all  the  excitement  I  had 
been  through  was  rendering  me  fanciful — 
I  rose  and  ran  towards  the  spot  where  I 
expected  to  find  Miss  Brandon,  only  to 
spring  back,  barely  restraining  a  shout  of 
terror.  She  was  gone ! 

"They  have  taken  her,''  I  gasped,  a 
sudden  blank  regret  which  I  had  no  time 
to  analyze  sweeping  over  me.  Then,  set 
ting  my  teeth,  I  plunged  forward,  and 
with  two  strides  found  myself  stepping  off 
into  space.  The  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes 
during  which  I  seemed  to  be  steadily  fall 
ing  gave  me  the  impression  of  being  in 
finite.  But  I  finally  struck,  fortunately 
for  my  earthly  career,  in  a  bed  of  snow, 
through  which  I  rolled  and  gasped,  fetch 
ing  up  at  last  with  a  painful  thump  against 
something  so  solid  that  my  airy,  light- 
79 


An  Eventful  Night 

headed  sensation  of  infinite  space  was  im 
mediately  swallowed  up  in  acute  physical 
pain. 

"  Oh,  so  you  fell,  too!  "  exclaimed  some 
one  close  beside  me.  "  How  queer  we  should 
both  do  it!  Really  now,  we  ought  to  be 
thankful;  it  might  have  been  quite  un 
pleasant." 

"Might  have  been  quite  unpleasant." 
And  there  I  sat,  with  every  part  of  my 
clothing  filled  with  melting  snow  and  my 
head  ringing.  Really,  if  she  had  been  a 
plain  woman — but  here!  I  belie  myself. 
I  have  quite  a  reputation  for  courtesy,  and 
I  think  that  I  partially  deserve  it,  for,  after 
coughing  up  much  melted  snow,  I  asked 
her,  in  a  strangled  voice,  if  she  was  in 
jured  in  any  way. 

"  Not  the  least  bit  in  the  world,"  she  an 
swered  cheerfully,  whipping  at  the  back  of 
my  collar  with  her  handkerchief.  "  My, 
but  you're  full  of  snow,  though !  Do  you 
know,  it  is  so  funny;  but  I  actually 
brought  your  shawl  the  whole  way  down 
here  with  me!  You'd  better  put  it  on 
80 


An  Eventful  Night 

now,  and  warm  up.  You  may  have 
strained  yourself  somehow,  but  they  say  if 
you  keep  warm  you  won't  stiffen." 

That  shawl  again !     It  was  too  much ! 

"Miss  Brandon/'  I  cried,  excitedly 
springing  to  my  feet,  then  I  stopped  ab 
ruptly,  and  taking  her  by  the  arm  drew 
her  as  far  back  as  possible  in  the  shelter 
of  the  rock  against  which  I  had  grazed  in 
my  fall.  "Hush,  hush!"  I  whispered 
uselessly,  for  she  had  made  no  attempt  to 
speak,  and  I  pointed  upwards  as  I  crouched 
beside  her,  for  lights  were  beginning  to  dot 
the  gloom  above  us  in  many  places;  hurry 
ing  lights,  held  low  and  tearing  headlong, 
like  so  many  burning  eyeballs. 

"  They  have  tracked  us,"  I  groaned,  for 
I  heard  a  shout.  "There  is  nothing  for 
it,  we  must  run  again.  But  which  way? 
This  thing  seems  to  begin  and  end  in 
snow." 

"Oh,  there's  no  great  hurry,"  said  my 

companion  coolly,  with  a  little  nod  which 

I  could  see  plainly  as  I  gazed  at  her  in 

horror.     "  I  shall  get  my  breath  first,  and 

6  81 


An  Eventful  Night 

besides  there  is  some  snow  down  my  collar, 
which  must  be  got  out  or  I  shall  be  in  a 
dreadful  condition." 

"  But,  Miss  Brandon,"  I  protested  stern 
ly,  "  they  are  close  upon  us;  they— 

She  gave  a  good-natured  little  laugh.  I 
could  scarcely  believe  it,  but  she  did. 
"How  funny  men  are!"  she  said  pleas 
antly,  working  at  her  collar,  with  success 
I  knew,  for  bits  of  snow  flew  into  my  hor 
ror-stricken  face  as  I  leaned  over  her. 
"  Why,  don't  you  see  that  the  fun  of  it  is 
they  must  take  their  time  about  getting 
here  ?  They  won't  dare  just  walk  up  and 
fall  down  as  we  did.  It  wouldn't  do,  you 
know.  One  might  hit  wrong.  You  came 
pretty  near  it." 

It  was  perfectly  true,  but  it  made  me 
seem  painfully  stupid  to  have  to  take  such 
plain  sense  second-hand,  and  from  a  young 
girl  at  that.  We  could  not  get  out,  that 
was  clear  enough.  It  was  equally  clear, 
when  I  considered  it,  that  they  could  not 
get  down  to  us  without  returning  to  the 
house  for  ropes,  or  ladders,  for  no  sane 
82 


An  Eventful  Night 

man  would  deliberately  take  such  a  leap 
in  that  pitchy  darkness. 

Oh,  for  some  outlet!  I  was  teeming 
with  inspirations,  but,  alas!  they  were  en 
cased  in  clumsy  flesh.  A  sudden  bright 
flame  from  the  freshest  of  them  brought 
me  to  my  feet,  where  a  pair  of  sordid  heels 
blew  out  the  illumination,  and  down  I  came 
upon  my  back,  with  the  end  of  my  tongue 
well-nigh  bitten  through  from  the  shock. 

"  Oh,  do  be  careful!  "  wailed  Miss  Bran 
don,  dragging  at  my  shoulders  to  set  me 
upright,  while  I  muttered  something  be 
neath  my  breath  which  I  shall  not  record. 
Another  shout  reached  us — a  fierce,  ex 
cited  shout.  Had  they  found  the  spot 
where  I  had  performed  my  clumsy  execu 
tion  of  the  dog?  If  so,  murder  or  suicide 
must  be  their  inevitable  conclusion,  and 
they  would  be  hot  after  the  survivor. 
There  must  be  no  longer  delay.  Breath 
or  no  breath,  we  must  do  something  before 
it  was  too  late.  "  Come,  Miss  Brandon," 
I  said  firmly,  and  taking  her  by  the  arm 
I  lifted  her  to  her  feet,  only  for  us  both  to 
83 


An  Eventful  Night 

lose  our  balance  together  and  go  skating 
away  upon  a  new-found  icy  incline. 

It  was  clear  to  me  now  where  we  were. 
We  were  adrift  upon  the  frozen  bed  of  one 
of  those  mountain  streams  about  whose 
summer  music  my  sister  had  discoursed  in 
her  letters  home.  I  remembered  well  how 
she  had  made  them  "leap  from  rock  to 
rock,"  hide  themselves  in  granite  caverns, 
"  and  then  burst  forth  again  all  fierce  and 
tortured  from  their  brief  restraint,"  all  of 
which  had  sounded  well  in  the  letters  ;  but 
when  it  came  to  sliding  down  this  ice-clad 
winding  idyll,  with  a  delicate  young  lady 
for  your  companion,  a  band  of  desperadoes 
scouring  along  the  mountain  side  in  search 
of  you,  no  coat  on  your  back,  and  the 
memory  of  two  dead  men  and  a  dead  dog 
behind  you,  making  the  thought  of  your 
probable  venture  into  the  next  world  some 
thing  to  be  avoided  if  possible, — I  could 
have  wished  the  "  windings  in  and  out " 
a  shade  less  fantastic,  and  would  have  en 
tirely  omitted  that  "bounding  from  rock 
to  rock,"  had  choice  been  given  me. 
84 


An  Eventful  Night 

In  the  darkness  I  could  not  estimate  the 
length  of  our  first  fall,  for  I  distrusted  my 
reckoning  made  in  mid-air;  but  that  it 
was  considerable  seemed  clear  from  the 
subdued  sound  of  tHe  men's  voices,  even 
when,  as  I  reasoned,  they  must  be  almost 
directly  above  us.  And  that  our  lives  were 
saved  by  the  heavy  accumulation  of  snow 
on  which  we  struck,  but  on  which  no  one 
would  dare  to  count  if  making  a  wanton 
leap,  was  proved  to  me  beyond  a  doubt. 
In  the  light  of  our  late  leap  it  was  mad 
ness  to  make  fresh  ventures.  And  yet  it 
was  an  ignominious  thought — that  of  sit 
ting  there  until  ladders  were  brought, 
and  we  were  dug  out  and  carried  back. 
Had  it  been  broad  daylight,  with  noth 
ing  behind  to  drive  us,  I  now  feel  cer 
tain  that  I  should  never  have  left  my 
soft  nest  in  those  snow  banks.  Certainly, 
I  should  never  have  drawn  Miss  Bran 
don  from  hers  ;  but  as  it  was,  we  went 
on,  and  happily  I  seemed  possessed  with 
the  off-hand  indifference  of  a  sleep-walker. 
I  saw  not,  and  yet  I  could  walk.  I 
85 


An  Eventful  Night 

used  no  reason,  but  a  sort  of  dull  in 
stinct. 

As  for  my  companion,  nothing  could  ex 
ceed  her  cheerful  indifference  to  our  sur 
roundings,  and  although  I  knew  perfectly 
well  that  this  condition  rose  entirely  from 
her  utter  ignorance  of  all  the  common 
laws,  rules,  and  usages  she  was  trampling 
under  her  pretty  feet,  what  was  I  to  do  ? 
Death  shrieked  at  her  in  every  chill  breath 
that  blew  about  our  shivering  forms,  and 
threatened  her  with  every  clinging  snow 
drop  which  fastened  itself  upon  her  gar 
ments,  and  she — she  said,  "  Dear  me,  how 
sharp,"  to  the  icy  wind,  and  bent  her  head 
to  meet  its  force,  and  flapped  off  the  cling 
ing  snow  with  graceful  petulance. 

How  many  times  in  our  wild  course  down 
the  stream's  bed  only  a  hair's  breadth  sepa 
rated  us  from  certain  destruction  I  will  not 
attempt  to  guess.  Certainly  we  must  often 
have  been  so  near  to  the  dark  river  that  its 
murmurings  might  have  reached  our  ears. 
We  were  a  snow  slide,  an  avalanche,  any 
thing  you  please  but  human  beings,  and  I, 


An  Eventful  Night 

for  one,  became  accustomed  to  travelling 
considerable  stretches  upon  the  back  of  my 
head,  while  that  detested  shawl  I  dignified 
into  a  sort  of  pad  for  Miss  Brandon  in  some 
of  our  straighter  shoots. 

I  don't  know  that  we  travelled  very  far 
this  way.  I  am  quite  certain  that  we  did 
not,  but  I  have  been  to  other  continents 
and  back  since  with  less  seeming  expendi 
ture  of  time,  and  have  never,  before  or 
since,  viewed  with  such  joy  any  inanimate 
object  as  I  did  the  light  which  suddenly 
appeared  before  us,  not  many  yards  away. 
A  poor,  mean  light  it  was,  coming  from 
some  smoky  lamp,  I  fancied,  and  shining 
through  the  window  of  a  miner's  hut;  but 
no  blaze  of  glory  ever  thrilled  my  heart 
with  such  gratitude. 

"Look,  look,  Miss  Brandon!"  I  cried, 
and  then  we  both  fell  again,  to  alight 
upon  comparatively  level  ground,  not  far 
from  the  hut  and  its  cheering  light.  But 
when  I  raised  my  companion  from  the 
ground,  she  lay  in  my  arms  limp  and 
motionless,  a  cut  on  her  forehead,  and  a 
87 


An  Eventful  Night 

dark  stream  trickling  down  over  her  still 
features. 

I  thought  her  dead,  and  a  great  madness 
seemed  to  possess  me.  Snatching  her  close 
against  me,  I  ran,  with  no  sense  of  her 
weight,  through  a  door-yard  thickly  strewn 
with  snow-covered  objects,  like  lumps  of 
wood,  old  buckets,  and  other  litter.  Stum 
bling  among  them  as  I  did,  I  came  to  no 
stop,  but  bounding  blindly  over  the  last 
thing  in  my  path,  I  brought  my  knuckles 
upon  the  door  with  a  sudden,  loud  thump, 
which  I  had  not  the  humanity  to  realize 
must  bring  the  heart  into  the  throat  of 
any  solitary  dweller  in  that  lonely  place. 

No  answer  came.  I  grew  furious,  and 
from  pounding  with  my  knuckles,  fell  to 
hammering  with  my  fists,  and  then  to 
kicking,  all  the  time  shouting  for  admit 
tance  in  a  voice  so  hoarse  with  fatigue  and 
excitement  that  it  must  have  sounded  like 
the  croaking  of  some  asthmatic  madman. 
A  fiercer  kick  than  all  at  length  brought 
the  door  open,  with  an  explosion  of  wood 
and  nails  that  made  even  the  insensible 
88 


An  Eventful  Night 

girl  in  my  arms  start  up  with  a  cry  of  ter 
ror  ;  and  that  cry,  which  told  that  life  had 
not  deserted  her,  brought  me  back  with  a 
rush  of  shame  to  my  surroundings. 

Filled  with  misgivings  at  my  mode  of 
entrance,  I  gazed  about,  at  first  seeing  no 
one,  and  then  I  spied,  drawn  up  at  bay  in 
a  far  corner,  the  gaunt  figure  of  a  woman 
clutching  in  one  hand  a  huge  meat  knife, 
which  she  brandished  with  a  slow,  par 
alyzed  movement  of  terror.  She  was 
dressed  after  a  fashion,  having  got  one 
arm  through  some  sort  of  a  coarse  woollen 
wrapper,  but  her  feet  were  bare,  and  her 
long  toes  curled  up  like  talons. 

"Stand  back!"  she  called,  in  a  quav 
ering  voice,  and  then  as  I  did  not,  but 
crowded  myself  yet  farther  in,  all  spent 
and  dishevelled  as  I  was,  covered  with  snow 
and  staggering  beneath  the  weight  of  the 
fainting  girl,  she  set  up  such  a  series  of 
shrieks  as  drowned  every  attempt  at  con 
solation  or  apology,  screaming  out,  and 
asking  to  be  protected  from  every  crime 
on  the  calendar. 


An  Eventful  Night 

"Madam!"  I  shrieked,  in  an  attempt 
to  drown  a  double  call  for  murder  and 
thieves,  "no  one  intends  to  harm  you. 
Oblige  me  with  a  little  wine  or  brandy." 
I  might  as  well  have  screamed  into  the 
face  of  a  whirlwind. 

Then,  in  happy  inspiration,  I  undertook 
a  dumb  show  that  I  wanted  drink  for  Miss 
Brandon,  pointing  to  her  as  she  lay  in  the 
chair  where  I  had  placed  her,  drawing  my 
hand  across  my  throat  to  indicate  that  it 
was  dry,  then  raising  imaginary  bottles  to 
my  lips.  I  cannot  think  what  she  imag 
ined,  but  her  terror  took  a  new  and  this 
time  silent  form.  She  ceased  to  shriek, 
but  with  a  sudden  rush  of  her  bare  toes 
across  the  floor,  shot  from  my  sight  into  a 
small  closet  or  pantry,  immediately  slam 
ming  the  door,  and  applying  an  eye  at 
once  to  a  good -sized  knot-hole  just  above 
the  knob.  I  suppose  it  was  the  state  of 
my  nerves,  for  I  can  make  no  one  quite 
understand  the  feeling  it  gave  me  to  know 
that  the  one  staring  eye  was  upon  me  and 
that,  whichever  way  I  turned,  it  would  f  ol- 
90 


An  Eventful  Night 

low  me — follow  me  as  I  moved  Miss  Bran 
don  in  her  chair  nearer  the  smouldering 
fire,  follow  me  while  I  wrapped  the  shawl 
about  her  and  fiercely  poked  the  sticks  of 
sputtering  wood.  All  the  time  there  was 
a  stealthy,  rattling  sound  coming  from  the 
closet,  which  somehow  bore  in  upon  me  the 
impression  that  with  one  long  arm  the 
woman  was  gradually  raking  everything 
movable  within  easy  reach.  Why,  I  could 
not  guess,  until  happening  near  the  door 
in  my  desperate  search  for  drink,  it  was 
jerked  open  a  few  inches,  and  a  tin  skillet 
was  flung  at  me  through  the  aperture. 

"Stop  that,  woman!  "  I  called  sternly, 
for,  though  the  action  had  broken  some 
what  the  spell  of  that  immovable  eye,  the 
situation  was  such  a  disgraceful  one! 

"Then  go  'way  and  lemme  alone,  or 
you'll  git  the  sad-irons  next,"  came  the 
dogged  answer,  and  I  could  hear  her  hard- 
drawn  breath  rushing  through  the  keyhole. 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  I  was 
meditating  means  of  obtaining  what  I  de 
sired  without  misusing  the  woman,  when 
91 


An  Eventful  Night 

a  languid  voice  recalled  me  to  Miss  Bran 
don's  side,  and  to  my  great  relief  I  found 
her  sitting  up,  wiping  the  blood  from  her 
face,  and  looking  quite  herself.  "  Oh,  do 
take  me  out  of  this  horrid  place,"  she 
whispered  fearfully,  glancing  at  the  closet 
door  with  such  an  expression  of  terror  that 
I  wondered  if  she,  too,  could  feel  that  eye 
upon  her. 

"  I  must  get  something  to  refresh  you 
first,  and  something  to  carry  us  back  to 
town,"  I  whispered  in  return,  and  then  I 
advanced  carelessly  towards  the  door,  only 
to  be  met  with  the  promised  "sad-iron," 
hurled  at  me  with  a  right  good  will.  Evi 
dently  our  hostess  was  determined  I  should 
parley  with  her  only  at  a  distance,  and  I 
saw  that  I  must  humour  her,  for  a  nerv 
ous  cry  from  Miss  Brandon  warned  me  to 
tamper  no  further  with  her  overstrained 
nerves. 

"  Madam,"  I  said  pleasantly,  retreating 

some  steps  and  addressing  myself  strictly 

to  the  eye,  which  was  again  at  its  post, 

"  could  you  make  any  use  of  a  five-dollar 

92 


An  Eventful  Night 

bill?"  And  I  ostentatiously  flourished 
one  before  the  knot-hole,  then  placed  it 
carelessly  on  the  table.  There  was  a  per 
fect  silence  at  this,  and  I  produced  a  sec 
ond.  "  If  so,"  I  said  jauntily,  "  you  prob 
ably  might  prefer  two,"  and  I  laid  a  second 
boldly  beside  the  first. 

I  was  sure  of  the  eye  now;  its  greedy 
blink  was  not  to  be  mistaken.  A  moment 
passed,  then  the  eye  drew  back.  Plates, 
cups,  and  other  things  rattled  a  retreat  to 
the  shelves;  the  door  creaked  upon  its 
rusty  hinges.  First  a  head,  and  then  a 
neck  appeared,  then  shoulders,  and  finally 
the  woman  was  before  us  again,  entirely  in 
her  dress  this  time,  and  with  a  conscious 
ness  of  her  bare  feet.  She  crouched  down 
to  cover  them,  which  made  her  seem  more 
feminine  and  approachable. 

"  My  name  is  Brown,"  she  said  solemnly. 
I  saw  that  her  right  hand  still  clutched  the 
meat  knife,  but  I  could  not  resent  this. 

"Mrs.  Brown,"  I  murmured  politely. 
So  many  people's  names  seemed  to  be 
Brown  that  night. 

93 


An  Eventful  Night 

"I  am.  a  widow,"  she  continued,  in  a 
sketchy,  biographical  style,  with  pauses 
for  comments. 

"Very  sad,  I'm  sure,"  I  faltered.  Her 
conversation  began  to  sound  rather  in  the 
matrimonial  way,  but  I  remembered  my 
bandages  in  time  to  take  no  real  alarm. 

"  My  husband  is  dead,"  she  continued. 

"So  I  gathered,"  I  broke  in  hastily. 
"  Can  we  have  some  wine  or  spirits  of 
some  kind  for  this  young  lady?"  and  I 
turned  to  Miss  Brandon. 

At  this  Mrs.  Brown  came  abruptly  out 
of  her  reminiscent  state  and  waxed  curi 
ous.  "Are  you  running  off  with  that 
girl  ?  "  she  burst  forth,  jerking  her  thumb 
towards  Miss  Brandon,  who  turned  very 
red,  but  looked,  I  realized  with  unreason 
ing  anger,  more  inclined  to  laugh  than  to 
cast  down  her  eyes. 

"She  is  my  sister,"  I  said,  looking  the 
woman  shamelessly  in  the  eye,  while  I  saw 
with  a  thrill  at  my  heart  that  Miss  Bran 
don  started  and  stared  at  me.  Would  it 
occur  to  her,  then,  that  I  felt  she  needed 
94 


An  Eventful  Night 

protection  before  the  judgment  of  strangers 
in  thus  fearlessly  flinging  herself  on  my 
honour?  The  nobler  side  of  me  shrank 
from  seeing  her  pretty  head  droop,  and 
then  turn  away,  while  an  irritable  longing 
to  feel  myself  regarded  other  than  as  a 
harmless  watch-dog  would  jostle  itself 
rudely  to  the  front. 

"  Humph!"  snorted  the  woman — 
snorted  is  the  word — and  then  she  eyed 
us  fixedly.  "I  can't  say  that  you  look 
much  alike." 

"And  yet  I  am  a  very  handsome  man 
without  my  bandages,"  I  said,  bowing 
with  ball-room  gallantry  to  Miss  Brandon. 
Then  remembering  how  grotesque  I  must 
appear,  all  disguised  as  I  was,  with  my 
woollen  cap  and  swollen  face,  I  straight 
ened  myself  up  stiffly,  and  cried  out  with 
sudden  irritation  for  the  wine. 

Although  partially  reassured,  I  think 
Mrs.  Brown  never  wholly  abandoned  the 
idea  that  I  was  mad.  I  sat  sullenly  by 
until  the  drink  was  prepared,  one  of  the 
women  present  watching  me  furtively, 
95 


An  Eventful  Night 

while  the  other  and  fairer  one  turned  to 
me  as  to  a  handy  man,  some  one  who  could 
fetch  and  carry,  could  be  humbly  useful  at 
the  wedding  of  a  happier  man,  but  never 
at  all  conspicuous,  except  at  his  own 
funeral. 

But  hark!  What  was  that?  Was  it 
only  the  wind  which  kept  rustling  to  the 
door  and  away  again?  The  window  was 
rattling  fiercely,  or  had  I  dozed  ?  "  There 
are  men  about,"  I  shouted,  and  was  upon 
my  feet  to  find  Miss  Brandon  with  her 
cheeks  glowing  from  the  wine  and  her 
eyes  brimming  with  laughter,  while  Mrs. 
Brown,  rigid  with  terror,  was  stiffly  swal 
lowing  the  bread  and  butter  she  had  just 
spread  for  her  guest. 

"Poor  man!"  cried  Miss  Brandon 
soothingly.  "You  went  right  to  sleep. 
It  was  too  funny,  but  I  wonder  you  didn't 
jerk  your  poor  head  off.  It  was  down  so 
far  and  you  brought  it  back  so  hard." 

"  Crazy  as  a  loon,"  I  heard  Mrs.  Brown 
mutter  grimly,  as  she  crept  from  behind 
the  table  where  she  had  sprung.  "  Drat 


An  Eventful  Night 

him,  and  there  I  have  eat  all  that  bread ! 
My  stomach  will  be  as  sour  as  vinegar." 

"I  want  a  horse,"  I  said  coldly,  "and 
something  to  ride  in."  I  longed  to  deny 
that  I  had  been  asleep,  but  dared  not. 
Better  asleep  than  insane,  and  I  was  near 
both. 

A  faint  gleam  of  hope  lit  the  gaunt  feat 
ures  of  Mrs.  Brown.  There  was,  then, 
some  prospect  of  being  rid  of  us.  "I  sup 
pose  he  might  use  Cousin  John's  horse," 
she  said,  talking  across  to  Miss  Brandon, 
as  one  might  discuss  the  beef  tea  of  a  pa 
tient  who  is  not  to  be  reasoned  with  per 
sonally. 

"  Cousin  John  or  Cousin  Jim,  it's  all 
the  same  to  me,"  I  cried  recklessly,  "so 
long  as  he  can  go." 

"  I'm  sure  I  can't  say,"  she  retorted, 
eyeing  me  askance  as  she  unhooked  a 
smoky  lantern  from  its  peg.  "I  only 
know  Cousin  John  fools  away  his  time  in 
the  summer  peddlin'  with  him,  then  leaves 
him  here  to  eat  his  head  off  in  the  winter. 
If  I  could  only  beef  him  he  wouldn't  live 
7  97 


An  Eventful  Night 

a  minute,  I  can  tell  you  that!  "  and  open 
ing  the  door,  she  led  me  forth  into  what 
seemed  a  wilderness  of  snow-filled  kegs 
and  boxes,  all  of  which  I  am  quite  certain 
that  I  stepped  into.  I  arrived  at  the  small 
stable  in  no  mood  to  endure  the  undigni 
fied  commotion  set  up  by  a  roost  of  old 
hens  and  a  solitary  cock  as  we  threw  the 
light  from  our  lantern  in  upon  them.  It 
was  maddening,  out  upon  a  secret  mission 
as  we  were,  to  note  the  zeal  with  which  the 
cock  set  about  his  crowing,  and  to  have  the 
hens  come  squawking  down  as  ready  for 
the  day's  engagement  as  though  the  morn 
ing  sun  had  tumbled  bodily  in  upon  them. 
Even  Mrs.  Brown  found  it  trying,  and 
cried  tartly  for  the  rooster  to  "  shet  his 
head/'  as  we  fought  our  way  through  to 
the  horse's  stall  beyond. 

Accurately  speaking,  we  found  no  horse, 
but  lying  prone  on  some  musty  hay  we  dis 
covered  a  four-legged  grey  thing  which, 
beyond  snorting  a  trifle  as  Mrs.  Brown 
thrust  the  lantern  contemptuously  under 
his  nose,  took  no  further  notice  of  us. 


An  Eventful  Night 

"  There  he  is, ' '  she  said  bitingly .  ( '  Noth- 
in'  but  a  rat-hole  to  pour  good  oats  into. 
He  hasn't  had  a  bit  between  his  teeth  for 
two  months,  but  you  may  take  him  and 
welcome." 

After  digging  in  vain  about  his  bony 
frame  for  some  trace  of  life  and  spirit,  I 
was  in  despair,  but  I  had  no  choice.  To 
gether  we  pried  him  from  his  ill-smelling 
bed,  and  he  developed,  as  he  slowly  un 
folded  his  joints,  into  a  regular  carcass  of 
a  horse,  with  great  hollows  which  it  would 
have  taken  the  earnings  of  a  whole  race  of 
peddlers  to  round  out  with  high-priced 
hay.  "Are  you  sure  he  is  strong?"  I 
gasped.  "  Will  he  be  up  to  a  trip,  you 
know  ?  It  seems  to  me  he  looks  awfully 
shaky." 

She  wouldn't  answer  me,  but  kept  on 
dragging  out  mouldy  pieces  of  harness  and 
moth-eaten  robes,  until  I  had  an  outfit  the 
match  for  any  rag-picker's  trap. 

"Heavens!"  I  moaned,  as  I  mounted 
the  sleigh,  jerking  at  the  rotten  straps 
which  were  all  the  hold  I  had  on  that 
99 


An  Eventful  Night 

great  brute.  "  He  has  our  lives  in  his 
hands.  He  couldn't  feel  the  strain  of 
these  lines  if  I  were  to  drag  them  across 
his  naked  eye.  Have  you  no  respectable- 
looking  ropes  ? "  I  called  fretfully,  re 
solving  to  drop  to  even  that  for  the  sake 
of  security.  But  Mrs.  Brown  was  at  the 
bottom  of  an  old  feed-box,  and  rose  to  the 
surface  with  such  a  disgraceful  contrivance 
in  the  shape  of  a  whip  that  I  felt  it  would 
be  madness  to  appeal  to  any  sense  of  de 
cency  within  her. 

Cautiously  I  steered  my  beast  up  to  the 
door  and  left  him  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Brown, 
while  I  went  inside  for  Miss  Brandon.  As 
I  entered  the  house  a  clock  struck  two 
clattering  strokes.  "And  to  think,"  I 
exclaimed  absently,  "  that  I  dined  with 
Flo  last  night  at  six! " 

The  statement  bore  in  upon  me  no  im 
pression  of  the  truth  after  I  had  made  it, 
but  it  startled  Miss  Brandon  to  hear  me 
talking  to  myself,  so  I  told  her  I  had  asked 
if  she  was  feeling  any  stronger.  It  seemed 
human  to  retain  her  confidence  in  my  san- 
100 


An  Eventful  Night 

ity,  my  own  faitli  in  it  was  so  badly 
shaken. 

"  And  now  you're  off,"  cried  Mrs.  Brown 
joyfully  a  few  minutes  later,  as  I  cracked 
the  whip  over  the  back  of  Cousin  John's 
nag. 

And  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  were  off  even 
as  she  said  it — the  horse  off  the  road,  strad 
dling  about  with  its  foot  through  an  ash- 
barrel,  and  I  off  the  seat  with  my  toboggan 
cap  off  my  head  and  filled  to  the  brim  with 
snow. 

Both  women  screamed,  of  course.  I 
picked  myself  up,  seized  the  horse  by  the 
bit,  forced  him  to  kick  himself  loose  from 
the  barrel,  and  then  we  really  were  off, 
with  but  one  more  brief  delay  while  I 
pressed  into  the  half -frozen  fingers  of  Mrs. 
Brown  a  third  bill  sufficiently  large  to 
cover  the  loss  of  our  outfit  should  it  never 
return  to  her. 

Mrs.  Brown  had  assured  us  that  for  sev 
eral  miles  the  road  could  be  travelled  blind 
folded.  "You  see,  you  got  clean  off  the 
trail  tumblin'  down  that  canon,"  she  had 
101 


An  Eventful  Night 

explained  irritably,  "an'  have  got  to  feel 
your  way  back  to  the  main  travelled  path. 
But  just  go  slow,  an'  give  the  critter  the 
lines,  an'  you  can't  run  into  nothin'  else." 
And  as  it  was  perfectly  black  overhead, 
and  not  much  better  under  foot,  and  the 
lines  must  inevitably  burst  under  the 
slightest  pressure,  there  seemed  nothing 
for  it  but  to  put  our  united  fates  into  the 
keeping  of  the  animal's  instincts. 

Cowering  and  shrinking,  I  silently 
whipped  my  chilled  fingers  and  stamped 
on  my  hardening  toes,  knowing  all  the 
time  that  I  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most 
wretched  creatures  living,  yet  conscious  of 
a  sneaking  delight  in  my  false  position,  a 
rascally  pleasure  when  the  soft  fur  sleeve 
next  me  brushed  my  icy  hand,  which  had 
nothing  to  do  with  my  physical  comfort  in 
touching  something  warm.  I  think  that 
I  would  have  been  content  to  drive  on  that 
way  all  night,  not  speaking  at  all,  but  sit 
ting  there,  half  frozen  and  wholly  irra 
tional,  dreaming  foolish  dreams.  But  sud 
denly  down  went  the  curtain  with  a  crash 
102 


An  Eventful  Night 

upon  perfumed  knight  and  smiling  lady, 
and  up  it  rose  on  me,  the  married  man, 
the  trusty  doctor.  "Oh!"  my  compan 
ion  burst  out  suddenly,  turning  her  face 
towards  me,  though  in  that  light  I  could 
see  nothing  of  it  but  a  white  blur,  "  I  am 
sure  no  father  could  have  been  kinder  to 
me  than  you  have  been  to-night,  and  that, 
too,  without  knowing  my  story.  Why 
don't  you  ask  me  about  myself  ?  " 

Swallowing  the  "father"  like  quinine 
which  has  stuck  in  the  throat,  I  suggested 
faintly  that  there  had  been  no  time,  but 
no  sooner  did  my  voice  break  the  silence 
than  she  stopped  me  with  a  nervous  start. 
"I  wonder  why  I  don't  like  to  talk  with 
you  so  well  in  the  dark,"  she  said  uneasily. 
"  I  haven't  seen  your  poor  face  really,  it's 
been  done  up  so;  but,  somehow,  when  I 
can't  see  your  bandages  you  seem  so  differ 
ent.  Your  voice  is  so — I  don't  know  what 
you'd  call  it,  but  it  seems  so  changed." 

"  I'm  getting  a  cold  in  my  head,"  I  said 
firmly.  I  could  not  bear  the  sudden  trem 
bling  in  her  voice. 

103 


An  Eventful  Night 

She  should  not  fear  me  if  I  had  to  go 
down  to  the  grave  and  live  there  in  her 
memory  as  an  old  fellow  with  full-grown 
girls  dependent  on  him.  "  Oh,  is  that  it  ? 
How  funny!"  she  exclaimed  with  a  re 
lieved  laugh.  "  But  now  I  am  going  to 
tell  you  all  about  myself,"  and  she  settled 
down  for  narrative  with  a  delightful  little 
nutter  which  brought  her  warm  garments 
brushing  against  my  chilled  limbs  like 
something  living. 

"Just  as  you  think  best,"  I  murmured, 
though  I  felt  morally  certain  that  if  she 
should  confess  that  the  whole  escapade 
was  planned  in  a  fit  of  rage  because  the 
proper  kind  of  stuff  for  an  evening  gown 
had  been  denied  her,  I  should  swear  she 
was  justified. 

"You  see,"  she  began,  with  a  little 
sigh,  "  it  all  came  about  through  that  hor 
rid  will  of  papa's." 

"Oh!"  I  said  vacantly. 

"Yes,"  she  went  on  with  relish,  "and 
don't  you  think  wills  are  nearly  always 
horrid  ?  They're  made,  you  know,  mostly 
104 


An  Eventful  Night 

when  people  are  sick  and  not  quite  right 
in  their  heads,  and  then  how  is  any  one  to 
be  argued  with  after  he  is  dead  and  gone  ? 
Oh,  I'm  all  against  wills,"  and  she  shook 
her  head  severely. 

"  They  certainly  do  stir  tip  a  great  deal 
of  ill-feeling,"  I  stammered,  seeing  that 
she  expected  me  to  say  something. 

"  And  papa  was  so  awfully  good  and  all 
that,  that  he  couldn't  be  got  to  see  that 
others  weren't  all  like  him,"  she  went  on 
hurriedly.  ' '  So  when  his  heart  got  to  act 
ing  so  queer,  he  just  made  his  will,  leaving 
me  and  my  property  all  in  uncle's  hands, 
for  mamma  had  been  dead  ever  so  long, 
and  then  he  died  that  night,  and  it's  all 
gone  wrong  ever  since,  and  I  presume  I've 
had  about  as  dry  a  time  of  it  as  almost 
anybody  you  can  think  of." 

"  Dry!  "  I  exclaimed;  it  was  really  the 
first  word  that  had  caught  my  attention. 
I  gave  the  will  less  than  no  thought  at  all. 
What  had  a  ranch  or  two  more  or  less  to 
do  with  such  eyes  as  hers  ? 

"Yes,  dry,"  she  repeated  firmly,  "for 
105 


An  Eventful  Night 

you  see  there  was  another  funny  thing 
about  this  will  that  I  haven't  mentioned 
yet,  and  that's  the  reason  I  came  to  be 
brought  up  in  a  convent." 

"  In  a  convent,"  I  repeated  feebly. 

"Yes,  in  a  convent,"  she  said  tragi 
cally,  taking  my  horror  for  granted. 
"Perfectly  horrid,  wasn't  it?  But,  of 
course,  as  I  was  to  marry  whom  I  pleased, 
that  was  about  the  only  safe  place  for  them 
to  put  me.  I  wouldn't  be  likely  to  want 
to  marry  a  priest,  now  would  I  ?  " 

"I  should  rather  think  not!"  I  ex 
claimed  with  unnecessary  energy,  com 
pletely  roused.  "  What  do  you  mean  by 
marrying  any  one  you  pleased?  I  don't 
in  the  least  understand  you." 

"  I  think,  myself,  that  that  is  the  funny 
part  of  it,"  she  cried  amiably,  evidently 
pleased  with  my  growing  interest;  "and  I 
don't  wonder  you  are  surprised;  but  you 
see,  papa  had  had  such  a  dreadful  time  of 
it  getting  mamma — something  or  other  was 
the  matter  with  some  land  that  belonged 
to  their  grandfathers — that  it  had  given 
106 


An  Eventful  Night 

him  a  hobby  about  people  being  crossed  in 
love,  and  that's  how  it  came  about  that  he 
put  such  a  queer  thing  in  his  will. 

"  I  was  to  marry  whom  I  pleased,  and  if 
I  did  marry,  I  was  to"  have  my  property 
and  use  it  as  I  pleased;  but  if  I  didn't 
marry,  Uncle  Hobart  was  to  take  care  of 
me  and  all  my  money  until  I  was  twenty- 
one,  and  that's  going  to  be  next  week." 

"Next  week!  So  soon?"  I  cried  in 
surprise,  for  the  wonder  of  her  flight, 
when  escape  was  so  near,  almost  formed 
itself  into  words  upon  my  lips. 

"Soon — so  soon!"  she  cried,  and  now 
with  real  anger  in  her  voice,  though  not, 
I  felt,  against  me.  "  It  may  seem  soon  to 
you,  but  it  will  be  just  six  days  too  late, 
and  then  all  my  years  of  horrid  old  dresses 
in  the  convent,  no  parties,  nor  jewels,  nor 
anything  nice,  will  be  for  nothing;  for  I 
must  either  marry  Cousin  Harold  at  the 
end  of  this  week,  or  Uncle  Hobart  will  sell 
my  mines  before  I  can  come  of  age,  and 
then  deny  I  ever  had  any,  or  will  claim 
that  they  are  the  ones  that  turned  out 
107 


An  Eventful  Night 

badly,  though  they  weren't  mine  at  all, 
but  his.  Yes,"  she  cried,  defiantly  facing 
me,  "  I  don't  deny  that  I  have  listened  at 
key-holes,  and  pried  into  letters,  and  done 
lots  of  dreadful  things  to  find  all  this  out; 
but  I've  had  my  disposition  just  ruined  by 
being  kept  mewed  up  all  these  years.  How 
I  used  to  rage  when  I  could  feel  myself 
getting  more  and  more  poky,  and  then  to 
have  only  a  few  dollars  doled  out  to  me  at 
a  time,  when  I  knew  that  Cousin  Harold, 
whom  I  just  hate,  was  spending  all  my 
money,  and  putting  off  marrying  me  until 
the  last  moment,  because  I  had  been  shut 
up  in  a  convent  until  I  was  a  perfect 
dowdy,"  and  here  she  broke  down  in  an 
gry  tears,  while  I  sat  a  statue  of  fear  and 
longing — longing  to  comfort  and  protect 
her  as  no  staid,  middle-aged  doctor  would 
be  supposed  to  comfort  a  young  and  help 
less  woman,  and  fear  lest  the  stern  self- 
control  I  had  been  able  so  far  to  exercise 
should  break  down  utterly  under  the  strain 
of  that  low  sobbing. 

"My  dear  Miss  Brandon,"  I  said,  low 
108 


An  Eventful  Night 

and  hurriedly,  "  calm  yourself,  I  beg.  Are 
you  quite,  quite  certain  about  that  will? 
Certain  that  you  were  left  free  to  marry 
whom  you  choose  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed,  I  should  think  I  am," 
she  burst  out  indignantly.  "  Why,  it  was 
for  that  reason  and  no  other  that  I  was 
kept  mewed  up  in  that  stuffy  old  convent 
all  those  years,  and  never  a  man  to  look  at 
but  priests  and  some  old  things  that  did 
work  about  the  grounds ! ' ' 

It  is  pitiful  to  confess  that  I  winced  at 
this.  It  did  not  please  me  that  she  should 
ever  have  wished  to  meet  other  men,  and 
when  you  recall  that  she  had  never  really 
seen  me  and  had  only  looked  upon  me  as 
a  married  person  with  a  swollen  eye,  you 
will  wonder  at  my  folly.  "  What  right 
had  you  to  want  to  see  men?  "  I  wanted 
to  ask  her  hotly,  but  instead  I  cried  softly : 
"Hark!  I  hear  horses' feet  behind.  They 
are  coming  fast.  Do  you  hear  them  ?  " 

This  dried  her  stormy  tears  at  once,  and 
breathlessly  we  sat  and  listened.  Yes,  I 
was  right.  From  far  up  the  steep  road 
109 


An  Eventful  Night 

there  came  to  us  swift,  hard  strokes,  break 
ing  startlingly  upon  the  silence  and  filling 
us  with  chill  premonition  of  pursuit  and 
capture  when  our  victory  seemed  all  but 
accomplished.  "  They  are  following  us," 
my  companion  whispered  fearfully,  creep 
ing  nearer  to  my  side  and  resting  there 
tremblingly.  "  They  will  not  let  me  go. 
I  know  it.  To-morrow  my  uncle  was  to 
meet  some  men  and  finish  the  sale  of  my 
mines  which  have  turned  out  to  be  full  of 
something.  They  will  kill  us  if  they  find 
us  here.  Oh,  what  shall  we  do  ?  " 

What  should  we  do,  indeed?  At  that 
moment,  as  if  to  increase  our  perplexities, 
the  moon,  which  had  been  hiding  all  night 
beneath  a  blanket  of  clouds,  burst  sud 
denly  forth,  clothed  in  glistening  gar 
ments,  which  lighted  every  nook  and 
cranny  of  the  rugged  scenery  about  us. 
Far  above  towered  the  snowy  peaks,  while 
away  down  below,  a  dim  radiance,  nestling 
close  like  a  circlet  of  gems  against  the 
earth's  dark  line,  the  lights  of  the  city 
lay.  Above  and  below  us  stretched  a  tor- 
110 


An  Eventful  Night 

tuous  path  upon  which  impatient  hoofs 
were  beating  not  many  rods  behind;  and 
we — what  could  we  do,  all  unarmed  as  we 
were,  and  at  the  mercy  of  an  ancient  beast 
whose  every  motion  seemed  wrung  from 
him  in  bitter  pain  ? 

"  Oh,  you  do  not  know  my  uncle!  We 
are  lost!  "  came  in  an  awed  whisper  close 
beside  me,  and  then  a  great  desperation 
fell  upon  me.  The  road  to  the  city 
stretched  before  us.  Inside  that  city  there 
was  justice  to  be  had;  help,  at  least.  Then 
reach  that  city  we  must  before  those  fleet 
hoofs  behind  had  tracked  us  down.  With 
a  spring  I  reached  my  feet,  and  folding  the 
useless  lash  about  the  whip-stalk  I  held, 
I  brought  it  down  upon  the  back  of  the 
horse  before  me  with  all  the  energy  of  a 
despairing  man's  last  effort.  "Go!"  I 
cried  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  then  sank  back 
crushed  with  the  certainty  of  defeat,  while 
nearer  and  yet  nearer  came  those  ringing 
footfalls,  and  a  distant  shout  told  us  that 
our  black  shape  on  the  moonlit  track  was 
already  clear  to  our  pursuers. 
Ill 


An  Eventful  Night 

But  what  was  this?  What  magic  had 
that  whip-stalk  held  ?  What  fire  had  my 
hoarse  cry  infused  into  the  huge  frame  be 
fore  me  ?  Or  was  it  those  clattering  hoofs 
behind  ?  Was  the  instinct  of  some  ancient 
courser  trembling  through  those  starting 
veins,  and  pricking  up  with  long-buried  fire 
the  dull  ears  drooping  beneath  their  rusty 
harness?  Scarce  had  that  cry  behind 
ceased  echoing  when  the  huge  bulk  of 
horseflesh  before  us  began  to  tremble  with 
the  workings  of  some  hidden  passion. 
Slowly  did  the  great  head  uplift  itself,  the 
great  chest  expand,  and  then,  with  a 
bound  which,  but  for  my  too  ready  arm, 
must  have  flung  my  companion  from  the 
seat,  the  beast  sprang  forward,  swinging 
us  and  the  rickety  old  sleigh  behind  him 
with  as  much  unconcern  as  though  we 
were  so  many  wisps  of  straw. 

"  Now  may  Heaven  help  us,  I  can  do  no 
more!"  I  gasped,  guarding  the  useless 
lines  with  care  for  that  awful  moment 
which  I  felt  must  come,  when  the  varia 
tion  of  a  hair's  breadth  might  save  us  from 
112 


An  Eventful  Night 

some  horrid  death.  Death!  Why,  the 
thing  seemed  simple.  The  only  question 
was  how  to  die.  Every  avenue  was  open, 
but  since  my  remains  might  be  recovered 
by  my  sorrowing  friends,  I  yearned  for  a 
more  symmetrical  end  than  to  go  crashing 
down  over  jagged  rocks  into  some  bottom 
less  abyss. 

And  now  another  shout  from  behind 
reached  us.  Faster  and  faster  came  the 
pursuing  feet,  while  the  great  hulk  before 
us  worked  its  starting  joints  as  though 
lightning  itself  were  playing  fast  and  loose 
inside  them.  Great  clods  of  snow  dug  up 
by  clattering  shoes  rained  thickly  about 
us,  and  struck  upon  our  smarting  cheeks. 
"The  shoes  themselves  will  be  coming 
next,"  I  groaned,  crouching  low,  as  my 
teeth  grated  upon  the  sand  left  from  a 
mouthful  of  the  snow  and  ice. 

Would  he,  could  he  make  it  ?  Nearer, 
nearer  yet  those  feet  seemed  coming. 
Would  bullets  be  whistling  next  in  the 
frosty  hail  about  us  ?  "  Cling  to  my 
arm!"  I  cried  in  my  companion's  ear, 
8  113 


An  Eventful  Night 

and  then  I  half-rose  to  my  feet  and  looked 
behind,  only  to  be  brought  down  upon  a 
pair  of  bruised  knees  as  our  racing  steed 
took  a  small  boulder  at  a  single  leap. 

"  One  more  such  trick  and  we  are  lost," 
I  muttered  between  my  teeth,  and  then 
we  struck  a  smoother  track,  and  I  climbed 
upon  the  seat  again,  to  meet,  as  I  did  so,  a 
glance  from  Miss  Brandon's  dark  eyes, 
shining  and  dilating  in  the  moonlight  un 
til  I  lost  all  reason  and  strange  visions 
seized  upon  me. 

"Miss  Brandon,"  I  whispered,  and  my 
voice  sounded  far  off  to  my  own  hearing, 
"if  you  were  married,  if  you  had  a  hus 
band  to  protect  you,  you  need  not  fear 
those  men  behind  ?  " 

She  sighed  impatiently.  "Of  course 
not,"  she  said  hurriedl3r.  "But  there's 
no  use  talking  about  it  now,  for  they'll 
catch  us;  oh,  they  will  surely  catch  us!  " 
and  she  clung  to  me  as  a  louder  shout 
reached  us. 

"Listen  to  me,"  I  whispered,  taking 
her  cold  hands  in  mine  boldly  now,  for 
114 


An  Eventful  Night 

that  I  meant  her  well  God  be  my  witness. 
"  A  week  from  now  you  will  be  free,  you 
will  need  no  one's  aid,  but  to-night,  but 
now,  let  me  protect  you.  For  a  few  short 
hours  be  my  wife  in  the  sight  of  the  law, 
and  I  swear  you  shall  be  to  me  a  young 
and  reverenced  sister,"  and  involuntarily 
I  bared  my  head  before  her. 

Ah,  if  I  could  have  spoken  in  my  own 
name  and  language  then ;  but  what  a  fig 
ure  I  must  have  cut.  She  might  have 
laughed  aloud  as  I  crouched  before  her, 
disguised  and  disfigured  as  I  was,  but  she 
only  shrank  from  me.  "  Marry  you ! ' '  she 
gasped.  "Are  you  not  married  already, 
then  ?  Oh,  I  was  sure  that  you  were  mar 
ried,  What  must  you  think  of  me,  what 
must  you! " 

"  I — I  have  been  married, "  I  stammered, 
pitying  her  so  in  her  shame  and  loneliness 
that  I  made  nothing  of  my  continued  per 
fidy.  "  But  my  wife  is  dead.  You  have 
no  need  to  fear  me.  Kemember  how  young 
you  seem  to  me.  Look  up,  and  see  that 
you  can  trust  me." 

115 


An  Eventful  Night 

As  I  pleaded  with  her  the  sleigh  plunged 
on  at  the  heels  of  that  dreadful  animal. 
Down  and  down  the  frightful  grade  we 
went,  but  he  made  nothing  of  it.  Half 
the  time  we  seemed  perched  upon  his  very 
haunches.  Slowly  the  girl  lifted  her  bowed 
head,  and  timidly  she  looked  at  me — at 
what  she  could  see  of  me — and  how  I 
blessed  then  those  hated  bandages.  Had 
she  seen  that  I  was  young,  that  every  pulse 
was  tingling  with  a  devotion  beyond  the 
power  of  reasoning  age  to  feel,  who  can 
tell  what  might  have  followed.  But,  as  it 
was,  something  in  the  swollen  eye  she 
studied  seemed  to  bring  comfort  to  her 
heart.  She  smiled,  and  although  at  that 
moment  we  took  a  stone  the  size  of  a  din 
ner-table  under  our  left  runner,  I  never 
even  felt  the  dull  shock. 

"It  would  be  awfully  funny, "  she  fal 
tered.  "  I  hate  to  lose  all  my  money  be 
fore  I've  ever  had  a  diamond  necklace,  or 
been  abroad,  and — and — afterwards " 

"And  afterwards,"  I  cried  with  my 
head  whirling  rapidly,  though  my  voice 
116 


An  Eventful  Night 

sounded  paternal  and  reassuring  still — 
"  afterwards  the  law  which,  has  helped  me 
to  preserve  for  you  your  property  shall  give 
you  back  your  liberty,,  and  may  Heaven 
bless  you  for  your  sweet  trust  in  me." 

And  now  go,  old  horse,  go !  Go,  go,  and 
may  you  yet,  with  "  Cousin  John  "  upon 
your  back,  canter  into  the  very  heart  of 
Paradise.  Half -standing,  half -sitting,  cau 
tiously  did  I  ply  the  whip.  With  line  and 
voice  I  sought  to  guide  his  headlong  charge; 
every  nerve  on  fire,  every  pulse  throbbing, 
wild  with  anxiety,  lest  one  false  step  waken 
me  from  my  dream  of  bliss. 

And  now  lights  from  countless  gambling 
dens,  lights  from  sick-rooms,  and  the  lights 
from  distant  streets  came  plainly  to  us. 
Go,  go !  And  go  he  did,  with  great  lunges 
of  his  awkward  legs,  and  now  and  then  a 
threatening  snort  which  told  of  straining 
lungs  gasping  forth  a  vigorous  protest  or 
reproach.  Half  a  mile,  only  a  quarter 
now,  and  still  those  galloping  feet  behind. 

Oh,  for  a  dark  alley  into  which  we  might 
plunge!  See,  there  it  yawns  before  us. 
117 


An  Eventful  Night 

Now,  one  burst  of  speed,  and  we  go  crash 
ing  through  a  heap  of  rubbish,  and  breath 
less  and  panting,  the  knees  of  the  horse 
bending  beneath  him,  we  spring  out  into 
a  dark  and  loathsome  alley,  and  with  a 
"  God  bless  thee,  old  nag!  "  and  a  pat  on 
his  reeking  flanks,  I  flung  a  coin  into  the 
face  of  a  man  who  started  up  from  a  door 
step,  and  cried:  "  Oats  for  that  horse  and 
a  drink  for  yourself ! ' ' 

And  then  what  a  chase  began !  A  chase 
joined  in  by  every  homeless  dog  and  va 
grant  cat  we  started  from  their  unclean 
lairs,  while  drunken  revellers  hailed  us 
with  coarse  jests  as  we  flashed  across  their 
paths,  and  twice  I  fancied  that  the  gleam 
ing  muzzle  of  a  firearm  threatened  us  from 
a  dark  retreat.  But  so  rapid  was  our 
flight  as  I  half -led,  half-carried  my  trem 
bling  companion  through  the  horrid  tan 
gle,  we  must  have  seemed  to  all  we  met  as 
illusive  as  the  shifting  night  shades,  now 
and  again  trembling  for  a  second  between 
them  and  the  moon's  pale  light.  At  last 
the  air  about  us  began  to  freshen,  and  with 
118 


An  Eventful  Night 

a  great  gasp  of  relief  and  exultation  I  drew 
my  companion  into  a  decent  thoroughfare, 
and,,  with  anxious  glances,  sought  for  some 
sign  which  would  lead  me  to  what  I  most 
needed. 

There  is  no  time  to  be  lost,  not  one  sec 
ond.  I  must  ask  directions,  but  of  whom  ? 
Yonder,  with  stately  step,  comes  a  starred 
and  coated  officer  of  the  law,  and  I  shrink 
back  and  let  him  pass  as  though  the  weight 
of  crime  was  pressing  down  upon  my  soul. 
Despair  seizes  on  me;  but  hark,  there  are 
other  feet!  And  see,  there  comes  a  be 
lated  traveller  of  respectable  mien,  a  fam 
ily  man,  long  overdue  at  the  domestic 
hearth,  I  would  take  my  oath.  I  could 
read  the  signs  of  a  mild  debauch  and  guilty 
dread  in  his  feverish  haste  and  in  the 
craven  fear  which  lit  his  eye.  "Sir!"  I 
exclaimed,  forgetting  caution  and  spring 
ing  so  suddenly  before  him  that  he  threw 
up  his  hand  as  though  sandbagging  were 
his  nightly  cross.  "I  beg  your  pardon," 
I  said  humbly,  seeing  how  it  was  with  him, 
and  then  I  asked  for  what  I  wanted,  and 
119 


An  Eventful  Night 

poured  out  into  his  reluctant  ear  such  a 
tale  of  love  and  romance  that,  had  he  con 
tained  a  divine  fire,  he  must  inevitably 
have  burst  into  flame  on  the  spot.  As  it 
was,  however,  he  stood  and  eyed  me  with 
a  cold,  dull  eye,  an  eye  filmy  from  loss  of 
sleep,  a  suspicious  eye,  that  did  not  twin 
kle  at  my  amorous  tale,  and  when  I  had 
finished,  said  merely:  "You  have  been 
fighting,  I  see,"  and  looked  at  my  band 
ages  with  a  self-righteous  air  which  sat  ill 
on  so  belated  a  reveller. 

"And  how  could  it  be  otherwise?"  I 
asked  plaintively.  "I  could  not  get  her 
peaceably. ' '  For  I  had  mixed  up  a  roman 
tic  elopement  with  certain  elements  of 
highway  robbery  until  I  thought  the  tale 
sufficiently  highly  spiced.  "  But  I  beg  of 
you,  do  not  detain  me.  Surely  you  can 
direct  me  to  the  proper  officer  without 
suffering  any  strain  upon  your  principles." 

Coldly  again  did  his  dull  eye  scan  me, 

up  and  down  and  all  about,  to  rest  at  last 

upon  the  diamond  scarf-pin  I  wore.     "I 

am  a  jeweller,"  he  remarked  at  last  indif- 

120 


An  Eventful  Night 

ferently,  but  his  eye  spoke  for  him  with 
an  eloquence  I  did  not  attempt  to  mis 
understand. 

"Indeed,"  I  exclaimed  joyously,  "if 
that  be  the  case,  perhaps  you  can  estimate 
for  me  the  value  of  this  bauble,"  and  I 
plucked  off  the  gem,  forcing  it  upon  him 
with  an  arch  and  meaning  glance,  while 
I  secretly  yearned  to  boot  him  for  a  cut 
throat.  But  no  sooner  had  the  thing  been 
done  than  I  found  the  price  beggarly  com 
pared  with  the  comfort  it  brought  to  my 
jaded  energies.  I  was  no  longer  a  rudder 
less  ship  drifting  about  at  the  mercy  of 
every  capricious  wave.  I  was  an  impor 
tant  event,  something  with  a  purpose,  a 
man  who  paid  his  way. 

I  would  give  a  connected  account  of  the 
next  hour's  work  were  the  thing  possible, 
but  so  confused  are  the  real  events  in  my 
mind  with  certain  vague  imaginings  that 
I  dare  not  vouch  for  what  might  be  called 
the  plain  facts.  We  walked,  I  should  say, 
a  great  number  of  miles,  though  they  have 
been  reduced  by  some  to  barely  as  many 
121 


An  Eventful  Night 

blocks,  and  stopped  at  several  houses  where 
people,  men  mostly,  in  night-caps,  I  think, 
though  I  will  not  insist  on  the  night-caps, 
came  and  peered  at  us  through  cracks 
in  doors,  and  swore  at  us  first,  and  then 
talked  more  mildly,  and  at  most  of  the 
houses  I  kept  telling  my  name  until  they 
stopped  me,  and  had  me  sign  it  to  papers, 
which  I  did  with  pens  as  large  as  walking 
sticks. 

I  know  for  a  certainty  that  I  kept  pay 
ing  out  money,  but  probably  not  in  the 
quantities  it  seemed,  for  my  bankers  tell 
me  I  had  drawn  no  thousand-dollar  bank 
notes,  nor  bags  of  silver  dollars,  and  then 
walked  again,  and  more  men  in  night-caps 
came  and  looked  at  us,  and  I  told  my  story 
to  some,  and  to  some  I  didn't,  until  sud 
denly  I  came  to  myself  in  a  dusty  little 
parlour  before  a  man  in  a  dress-coat  and  felt 
boots,  who  was  saying  to  me  as  well  as  he 
could  with  a  bad  cold  in  his  head,  "  I  pro 
nounce  you  man  and  wife."  I  was  stand 
ing  holding  fast  to  Miss  Brandon's  hand, 
and  the  knowledge  that  she  was  no  longer 
122 


An  Eventful  Night 

Miss  Brandon  was  tingling  through  my 
senses.  My  wife — for  she  was  my  wife  in 
the  eyes  of  the  men  who  stood  staring  won- 
deringly  at  me — gave  a  frightened  little 
cry,  tottered  for  an  instant,  and  then  fell 
fainting  into  arms,  so  white,  so  wan,  so 
childlike  that  I  thought  we  had  killed  her 
somehow  with  our  clumsy  doings.  Snatch 
ing  her  up,  I  dashed  out  into  the  hall  with 
her,  where  my  sudden  entrance  scared  up 
a  covey  of  half -dressed  women,  who  made 
a  rush  for  the  stairs,  but  finding  they 
couldn't  make  it,  turned  and  defiantly 
faced  me. 

"Show  me  a  room!"  I  shouted,  and 
they  fled  before  me  like  rats,  until,  fol 
lowing  their  scant  skirts,  I  found  myself 
standing  before  a  clean,  but  tumbled  bed, 
from  which  the  scared  occupant  had  just 
sprung  to  secrete  herself  behind  a  half- 
open  closet  door.  Here  I  tenderly  placed 
my  charge,  and,  with  one  more  look  at  her 
wan  face,  I  fled  from  the  apartment,  shut 
ting  the  door  upon  her  and  the  women, 
and  then  I  crouched  close  beside  it,  wild 
123 


An  Eventful  Night 

with  fear  lest  a  cry  of  horror  reach  me  at 
any  moment  to  tell  me  that  life  had  fled. 

Nor  from  that  lowly  post  could  I  be  up 
rooted,  though  the  hole  was  dark  and  the 
women,  running  in  and  out,  stumbled 
against  me  as  they  ran,  spilling  things 
over  themselves  and  me.  At  last  one  of 
the  lot  came  and  stood  before  me,  with 
arms  akimbo,  her  face  shining  with  good- 
natured  scorn.  "  Six  months  from  now 
you'll  take  things  more  easy,"  she  said. 

"  And  the  lady,  how  is  she  ?  "  I  cried. 

"The  lady?"  she  repeated  wonder- 
ingly;  "your  wife,  you  mean,"  and  then, 
for  I  reddened  furiously  beneath  my  band 
ages,  she  laughed  and  cried:  "Why,  the 
man  is  blushing.  You  better  go  and  shave 
yourself,"  she  cried  jocosely,  "you  are  no 
fit  sight  for  so  pretty  a  little  runaway. 
Leave  her  to  me,  and  brush  up,  or  she'll 
be  more  than  ready  to  run  back  with  papa 
when  he  gets  here." 

There  was  good  sense  in  this,  and  I  crept 
down-stairs,  and  meeting  in  the  hall  my 
gentleman  of  the  diamond  pin,  asked  him 
124 


An  Eventful  Night 

shamefacedly  where  I  might  obtain  at  once 
a  bath,  a  change  of  clothing,  and  a  shave. 

Again  was  I  led  forth,  and  once  more 
we  were  knocking  at  people's  doors,  and 
once  more  did  surly  me'n  peer  at  us  through 
stingy  little  chinks,  and,  by  and  by,  a  half- 
dressed  barber  stood  before  us,  mixing  up 
cold  lather,  and  stropping  a  razor  with  a 
sleepy  blindness  far  from  reassuring. 

"  You'll  have  to  get  off  them  rags,"  he 
said,  with  unnecessary  rudeness,  pointing 
to  my  bandages,  and  then  he  stripped  them 
from  me  with  no  gentle  hand,  and  fell  at 
his  work. 

"Be  careful  of  that  jaw,"  I  said  heav 
ily,  and  then  I  think  that  I  must  have 
gone  to  sleep,  for,  though  I  remember  his 
asking  me  snappishly,  "Which  jaw?"  I 
remember  nothing  else  until  a  sudden  ap 
plication  of  bay  rum  to  a  cheek  all  but 
freed  of  skin  brought  me  to  myself  with 
a  moan  of  pain. 

"  Whatever  have  you  had  them  rags  on 
for  ?  "  was  the  greeting  of  my  tormentor, 
as  he  hastily  covered  the  evidence  of  his 
125 


An  Eventful  Night 

brutality  with  a  dab  of  powder,  and  then 
my  eyes,  straying  about  in  sleepy  wonder, 
fell  upon  my  reflection  in  the  long  glass 
before  me.  What,  indeed?  Why,  I  was 
myself  again !  How  long  had  I  been  mas 
querading  unnecessarily  in  those  band 
ages  ?  Why,  even  my  swollen  eye,  though 
a  thought  heavy  about  the  upper  lid,  wore 
only  a  look  of  interesting  melancholy. 

I  could  have  sung  for  joy.  I  sprang  to 
my  feet  with  such  an  expression  of  artless 
delight  on  my  face  that  the  man  demanded 
four  times  the  usual  rate  on  the  spot. 
"It's  too  much  to  be  expected  to  climb 
out  at  this  hour  and  sharpen  up  extra  for 
what  one  would  get  at  mid-day  when  the 
trade  is  driving,"  he  said,  in  excuse  of  his 
robbery,  but  I  took  him  so  pleasantly  that 
he  quite  bestirred  himself  when  he  got  to 
my  hair,  and  when  I  mentioned,  with  an 
attempt  at  gaiety,  that  I  was  without  hat 
or  coat,  he  offered  to  drum  up  a  friend  of 
his  who  kept  a  clothing  store  a  little  far 
ther  down  the  street. 

"  Let's  be  off,"  I  cried  like  one  leading 
126 


An  Eventful  Night 

a  charge  of  cavalry.  Half  an  hour  later  I 
was  so  completely  metamorphosed  that  the 
lady  who  had  recommended  the  change  did 
not  know  me  when  I  rushed  in  upon  her, 
until  I  broke  forth  into  a  storm  of  inquiries 
as  to  the  state  of  the  invalid  I  had  left  in 
her  charge. 

"  Oh,  is  it  you,  then  ! "  she  cried, 
throwing  her  fat  hands  in  the  air,  while 
her  eyebrows  sought  out  her  oily  hair  once 
more.  "  Well,  well  !  So  that's  why  she 
ran  away  from  home,  was  it !  A  good  eye 
and  a  neat  moustache  will  make  a  fool  of 
any  girl  that  breathes,  I  see,  and  her  home 
is  no  better  than  the  dirt  she  walks  on." 

"Where  is  she?"  I  cried,  for  I  was 
burning  to  display  myself  before  her  with 
out  my  former  dismal  trappings.  Of 
course,  I  should  have  remembered  how  she 
had  learned  to  regard  me — that  she  was 
weak,  tired,  and  in  a  situation  of  the  ut 
most  delicacy,  and  in  a  manner  I  did ;  but 
how,  without  raising  fatal  suspicions,  could 
I  refuse  to  enter  when  the  attendant 
pointed  to  the  parlour  and  said  my  "  bride  " 
127 


An  Eventful  Night 

was  in  there?  I  might,  however,  have 
gone  in  more  slowly;  might  have  followed 
up  my  timid  knock,  which  brought  a 
smothered  chuckle  from  behind  me,  with 
less  speed;  but  as  it  was,  I  was  inside  the 
door,  and  on  my  knees  beside  the  chair  in 
which  she  sat,  pouring  out  a  stream  of  in 
quiries,  regrets,  and  congratulations  before 
I  noticed  that  she  was  not  listening  to  me, 
but  had  drawn  herself  back  from  me  as 
from  a  wild  beast,  and  was  regarding  me 
in  a  pallid  horror  which  struck  me  to  the 
heart. 

"  Why,  don't  you  know  me  ?  "  I  cried, 
in  pity  and  reproach,  at  which  her  face 
turned  crimson,  then  went  down  upon  the 
arm  of  her  chair,  and  she  burst  into  tears 
with  such  an  abandonment  of  grief  that  I 
was  beside  myself. 

"  Oh,  forgive  me,  forgive  me!  "  I  cried, 
though  I  was  not  conscious  of  having 
sinned  against  her.  But  she  only  shook 
her  head,  and  bade  me  leave  her,  and,  as 
I  could  not  do  that,  I  dropped  into  hope 
less  silence,  regarding  the  crown  of  fluffy 
128 


An  Eventful  Night 

hair,  which,  was  all  I  could  see,  in  helpless 
misery,  until  gradually  about  an  inch  of 
her  white  forehead  began  to  show  itself 
above  the  handkerchief  she  was  clutching, 
and  a  desperate  voice  said:  "How  could 
you  be  so  young — so  awfully  young,  and 
all  that?  It's  just— just  too  dreadful  for 
anything." 

"I  know  it,"  I  said  meekly,  though  I 
did  not  think  it  dreadful  at  all.  "But 
you  know  all  this  is  just  for  a  little  while. 
I  only  stayed  to  make  you  understand  that. 
I  will  leave  you  now,  if  you  prefer  it." 

There  was  a  silence,  then  she  reached 
her  hand  cautiously  towards  me,  still  with 
her  face  concealed  behind  the  handker 
chief. 

"I  am  not  angry  with  you,"  she  said 
timidly.  "  And  if  you  had  been  old,  you 
know,  come  to  think  about  it,  you  couldn't 
have  got  about  so.  Perhaps  it's  best  this 
way,  after  all." 

"Perhaps  it  is,"  I  murmured  gravely, 
barely  touching  the  dainty  fingers,  then 
laying  them  discreetly  down  again,  while 
9  129 


An  Eventful  Night 

my  traitor  heart  leaped  high  and  mad  fan 
cies  possessed  my  brain.  And  then,  to  re 
assure  her,  for  I  cared  little  enough  about 
it  myself,  I  began  to  talk  to  her  of  her 
business  complications,  artfully  rousing  in 
her  the  resentment  against  her  uncle  of 
which  I  had  caught  a  glimpse;  and  so, 
little  by  little,  winning  her  to  look  at  me 
and  trust  me  as  I  sat  down  back  from  her, 
not  trusting  myself  in  the  least,  and  very 
much  fearing  that  some  hasty  word  or  ac 
tion  might  drop  again  the  veil  which  seemed 
lifting  from  between  her  soul  and  mine. 

"  Oh,  how  can  I  ever  thank  you 
enough  ?  "  she  cried  at  length.  "  And  to 
think  that  you  are  about  the  first  honest 
man  I  ever  talked  to,  though,  I  suppose," 
she  added  hastily,  "that  the  priests  must 
be  all  right,  being  in  the  church  and  all 
that,  but  then  you  know  they  have  to  be 
so  queer,  that  it  doesn't  seem  to  matter 
whether  they  are  or  not;  one  doesn't  care 
much,  you  know." 

Well,  they  would  not  let  us  alone,  so  we 
had  some  breakfast — the  usual  thing,  I 
130 


An  Eventful  Night 

suppose,  for  I  remember  being  asked 
whether  I  would  take  cream  in  my  coffee, 
and  declining  it,  then  wondering  why  the 
stuff  tasted  wrong  and  wasn't  the  right 
colour;  and  something  about  being  asked 
if  the  steak  suited  me,  and  that  I  answered 
dreamily  that  it  did  not,  at  which  people 
looked  offended.  Little  could  be  expected 
of  one  sitting  down  in  family  fashion  with 
a  blushing  girl,  who  kept  her  eyes  fast 
ened  questioningly  upon  him  whenever  she 
thought  herself  unobserved,  and  who  fal 
tered  out  little  womanly  proffers  of  deli 
cacies  that  led  him  to  pile  his  untouched 
plate  with  incongruous  eatables. 

A  carriage  was  got  for  us  by  some  one, 
and  I  paid  out  more  money,  almost  my 
last.  Then  we  were  directed  to  a  down 
town  law  office;  arrived  indecently  early, 
and  were  received  by  a  janitor  much  out 
of  temper  from  an  encounter  with  the 
furnace,  and  I  was  snubbed  by  him  and 
frowned  upon;  and  when  the  lawyer  came 
I  left  my  companion  in  the  reception-room, 
and  went  into  the  inner  office  with  him, 
131 


An  Eventful  Night 

wishing  devoutly  that  I  might  have  sought 
my  brother-in-law's  advice  as  to  the  kind 
of  help  to  employ  in  my  delicate  business, 
yet  not  daring  to  venture  near  him,  as  I 
valued  my  liberty. 

Too  utterly  jaded  to  use  my  ordinary 
tact,  I  did  not  decently  prepare  the  poor 
man.  While  I  pelted  him  with  my  wild 
statements,  he  sat  far  forward  upon  the 
edge  of  his  office  chair,  with  one  eye  upon 
the  window  beside  him,  making  ready,  I 
felt,  for  that  moment  when  my  lunacy 
should  break  loose  and  he  must  leap  for 
his  life.  But,  though  clumsy  to  the  verge 
of  brutality,  I  was  firm  with  him,  and 
nothing  he  could  say  shook  my  confidence 
in  my  reason,  or  the  reality  of  what  had 
happened.  So  gradually  he  left  off  his 
feverish  attention  to  the  window  and  be 
gan  to  really  heed  me.  But  when  I  reached 
that  strange  morning  wedding,  he  sprang 
to  his  feet  and  snatched  the  papers  per 
taining  to  the  ceremony  from  me,  much 
as  one  would  seize  a  loaded  revolver  from 
the  hands  of  a  child. 


An  Eventful  Night 

Our  names  he  took  down,  and  then  my 
companion  must  be  brought  in  and  ques 
tioned,  and  when  he  had  cross-examined 
her  until  the  toe  of  my  boot  fairly  tingled, 
he  bundled  us  both  out  of  the  office,  tell 
ing  us  when  to  call  again,  all  the  time  mut 
tering  to  himself  as  though  his  nervous 
system  had  sustained  a  severe  shock. 

Once  more  in  the  carriage,  what  was  I 
to  do  ?  We  could  not  ride  all  day.  Should 
I  take  my  companion  straightway  and  place 
her  in  my  sister's  care  ?  Not  for  all  the 
world,  until  the  mystery  surrounding  her 
could  be  cleared  up. 

What,  then?  Timidly  I  turned  and 
looked  at  her,  but  nothing  was  to  be  got 
from  that,  save  the  disconcerting  percep 
tion  that  she,  too,  felt  the  awkwardness  of 
our  situation,  was  crushed  beneath  it,  and 
cowered  away  from  me,  her  head  turned 
aside  and  her  whole  attitude  one  of  com 
plete  prostration. 

"  Well,'7  said  I  briskly,  as  my  eyes  noted 
this,  "  we  will  drive  to  a  hotel,  where  you 
may  rest,"  and,  pretending  I  had  forgot- 
133 


An  Eventful  Night 

ten  something,  I  ran  and  conferred  with 
the  driver  as  to  some  quiet  retreat,  the 
name  of  which  he  gave  with  a  leer,  so  that 
I  climbed  back  beside  my  companion, 
filled  with  vengeful  longings,  which  were 
augmented  when  I  detected  my  bride  in 
the  act  of  studying  me  from  beneath  her 
lashes,  and  saw  that,  far  from  comforting 
her,  the  survey  of  my  person  seemed  to  fill 
her  mind  with  renewed  consternation. 

"  Miss  Brandon,"  I  cried  softly,  a  whole 
world  of  respect  and  compassion  ringing 
in  my  voice,  and  then  I  remembered  that 
she  was  no  longer  Miss  Brandon,  and  she 
remembered  it  too,  and  the  good  work 
was  all  undone.  Up  rushed  the  scarlet  to 
my  face,  and  to  hers  too,  poor  girl,  and 
with  a  childish  motion  she  pressed  one 
hand  across  her  face  to  conceal  it  from  me. 

"  It's  going  to  be  a  chilly  day,"  I  gasped 
with  an  attempt  at  unconsciousness  she 
could  not  second,  and  so  we  sat  in  a  silence 
awful  to  her  I  knew,  while  my  heart 
thumped  away  at  my  side  like  a  hammer. 

No  sooner  had  the  carriage  stopped  than 
134 


An  Eventful  Night 

she  was  upon  her  feet  with  down-bent 
head,  and  I  had  scarcely  time  to  get  the 
door  open  and  be  ready  to  receive  her  be 
fore  she  slipped  down,  avoiding  my  ex 
tended  arms,  and  stood  beside  me  like  a 
bird  ready  for  flight. 

"  Good-bye,"  she  murmured  feverishly, 
"you  don't  need  to  come  in  with  me.  I 
can  take  care  of  myself  now,"  with  a  little 
catch  in  her  voice.  She  would  have  been 
gone,  but  forgetting  where  I  was,  I  caught 
her  hand  and  made  her  raise  her  eyes  to 
mine.  "Oh,  forgive  me,"  she  faltered, 
"you  have  been  so  kind,  but " 

"  But  I  shall  not  obey  you  now,"  I  fin 
ished  for  her  firmly,  and  then  I  dropped 
her  hand,  for  I  saw  that  the  driver  was 
fairly  feasting  his  vulgar  curiosity  on  our 
little  scene.  I  saw  something  else,  too, 
with  a  sudden  sickening  chill  at  my  heart. 
An  elegant  private  carriage  containing  two 
ladies  was  being  drawn  up  with  a  flourish 
beside  us.  In  one  of  those  ladies  I  recog 
nized  my  sister,  while  in  the  other  I  dis 
covered,  with  a  sense  of  being  caught  up 
135 


An  Eventful  Night 

in  the  grasp  of  a  whirling  maelstrom,  the 
most  yielding  of  the  fair  creatures  to  whom 
I  had  been  paying  idle  court  since  my  ar 
rival  at  my  sister's  home.  They  had  seen 
me,  but  not  my  companion;  for,  as  I  had 
said  before,  I  am  large,  and  I  was  standing 
before  her.  They  had  seen  me,  and  were 
hot  after  me,  and  my  friend  was  smiling 
upon  me  with  gay  indulgence. 

The  coachman  from  his  elevated  seat  had 
also  seen  me,  and  seen  not  only  me,  but 
my  companion,  and  I  thought  there  was 
pity  in  his  glance  as  he  reined  in  his  horses 
close  beside  us — so  close  that  before  my 
mind  could  act  both  ladies  saw  I  was  not 
alone,  but  saw  it  too  late  to  draw  back. 
The  half-reproached,  half-relieved  greet 
ing  already  framed  upon  my  sister's  lips 
froze  into  a  little  frosty  nod,  while  a  deli 
cate  flush  of  shame  and  outraged  confi 
dence  spread  itself  over  her  handsome  fea 
tures.  Her  friend  sat  like  flesh  and  blood 
turned  of  a  sudden  into  an  excellent  qual 
ity  of  granite,  while  not  the  faintest  trace 
of  pity  gleamed  from  the  four  eyes  turned 
136 


An  Eventful  Night 

haughtily  upon  the  shrinking  figure  beside 
me. 

I  had  stood  so  much  that  I  think  I  had 
little  reason  left;  besides,  although  I  knew 
the  circumstances  were  against  me,  I  was 
a  little  indignant,  which  still  further 
blinded  me.  So  without  a  thought  of 
their  amazement,  indeed  with  scarcely  a 
consciousness  of  the  thunderbolt  I  was 
levelling  at  their  heads,  I  took  my  com 
panion's  hand  and  led  her  a  little  forward, 
remarking  in  a  perfectly  vacant  manner: 
"  Oh,  how  do  you  do,  Flo  ?  Let  me  make 
you  acquainted  with  my  wife.  And  Miss 
Thompson,  also,  I  should  like  to  have  you 
meet  my  wife.  Pleasant  morning,  isn't 
it?"  And  then,  utterly  apathetic  from 
despair,  I  stood  and  stared  listlessly. 

I  have  always  admired  women,  but  the 
conduct  of  the  outraged  Miss  Thompson 
at  that  moment  moved  me  to  such  intem 
perate  wonder  that,  with  the  insane  ten 
dency  one  has  to  grasp  at  trifles  in  mo 
ments  of  peril,  I  thought  for  a  moment  of 
nothing  else  save  the  sudden  glittering 
137 


An  Eventful  Night 

composure  which  fell  down  over  and  stayed 
about  her  as  the  fatal  words  slipped  past 
my  babbling  lips.  Not  the  shriek  of  my 
sister  in  that  public  place,  nor  the  violent 
start  and  reproachful  cry  of  my  wife,  had 
power  for  that  moment  to  rouse  me. 

"  Well,  really  now,  quite  abrupt  and  the 
atrical,  I  do  declare!  "  cried  Miss  Thomp 
son,  while  every  other  mortal  on  the  spot 
was  tongue-tied  with  horror.  "  And  to 
think,  Flo,  that  you  lost  a  night's  sleep 
worrying  over  such  a  refreshingly  roman 
tic  creature!  I  would  tear  my  hair  just  a 
little,  my  dear,  if  I  were  you.  Of  course, 
I  should  recommend  the  greatest  discretion 
while  you're  about  it." 

When  one  looked  from  the  pitiful, 
frightened  face  of  the  child  beside  me  to 
the  chill,  white  face  of  Flo,  glaring  down 
at  us  from  the  carriage  door,  this  rattling 
talk  sounded  like  profanity,  and  yet  I  did 
not  blame  Miss  Thompson.  At  heart  I 
was  guiltless,  yet  I  cowered  beneath  the 
glitter  of  her  eye  as  though  confronted 
with  actual  bigamy.  I  have  said  before 
138 


An  Eventful  Night 

that  Flo  is  a  good  woman.  She  is.  She 
is  more.  She  is  a  great  woman,  and  at 
that  trying  moment  she  proved  as  much. 
After  all  was  said  and  done,  I  was  her 
brother,  and  my  honour  was  her  honour. 

"I  am  very  glad  to  meet  your  wife,  I 
am  sure,"  she  at  length  gasped  out,  with 
a  smile  which  must  have  come  much  harder 
than  the  last  defiance  of  many  a  well-baked 
martyr.  "Do  get  in  and  come  with  us, 
both  of  you.  I  was  on  the  way  to  the 
morgue  to  identify  you,  but  we  will  drive 
home  now." 

It  sounded  suspiciously  friendly,  but  I 
was  looking  for  floating  straws,  and  I 
turned  to  assist  my  trembling  charge  in 
beside  the  others. 

"Forgive  me,"  I  whispered,  as  I  half- 
lifted  her  upon  the  cushions;  but  she 
would  not  raise  her  eyes  to  mine.  When 
I  murmured  in  my  sister's  ear,  "Flo,  be 
kind,  I  will  explain,"  she  turned  her  face 
away  with  a  low  order  to  the  driver  which 
set  the  carriage  spinning  towards  home  at 
a  rate  that  threatened  to  cripple  every  slow- 
139 


An  Eventful  Night 

footed  pedestrian  along  our  track.  But  if 
my  bride  would  not  look  at  me,  nor  my 
sister  talk,  Miss  Thompson  did  both  and 
to  spare.  Heavens,  how  she  scourged  me 
with  her  merry  speeches !  "  And  to  think, 
Flo,  you  naughty  girl,"  she  cried,  turning 
a  vengeful  glare  on  my  poor  sister,  who 
writhed  beneath  her  just  attack,  "that 
you  passed  him  off  upon  us  as  a  gay  bache 
lor.  What  if  I  had  lost  my  heart  ? ' '  And 
she  glared  at  me,  while  I  wondered  to  think 
she  dared  claim  to  own  such  an  organ. 

I  don't  suppose  we  were  more  than  ten 
minutes  making  that  drive,  yet  I  seemed 
to  grow  old  and  grey  before  it  ended. 
Helpless  to  retaliate  on  Miss  Thompson, 
my  manhood  seemed  to  desert  me,  and  I 
sat  huddled  up  upon  the  seat  like  some 
poor  relation  out  for  an  airing. 

At  last  we  were  at  home  once  more. 
Some  one — only  the  coachman,  I  think — 
drove  off  with  Miss  Thompson,  and  after 
more  confusion  I  was  standing  before  my 
brother-in-law,  who  had  been  telephoned 
for  in  great  haste ;  with  Flo  showing  symp- 
140 


An  Eventful  Night 

toms  of  hysterics  on  a  sofa  at  hand,  and 
my  poor  bride  doubtless  weeping  her  pretty 
eyes  out  in  a  chamber  above  us,  whither 
she  had  fled  without  one  word  or  backward 
glance  for  me.  Thus'  standing,  suspected 
by  all,  pitied  by  none,  I  poured  out  my 
strange  tale  for  perhaps  the  hundredth  time. 
I  can  see  my  brother-in-law  now  as  he 
sat  there,  large,  loose-limbed,  and  pros 
perous,  filled  with  uneasy  embarrassment 
at  the  irregularity  of  being  in  his  own 
house  during  business  hours,  his  eyes 
roaming  in  conjugal  anxiety  to  where  his 
wife  lay,  yet  ever  returning  to  me  with  a 
friendly  light  in  their  sharp,  grey  depths. 
Not  a  figure  to  encourage  romantic  yarns, 
and  yet  I  poured  mine  out  upon  him,  and 
saw  him  shift  and  wince,  and  heard  his 
muttered  "  By  George's"  and  his  "Oh, 
come  now,  old  fellow's  "  without  flinching; 
and  then,  when  I  had  finished,  they  both 
sat  and  gazed  at  me  with  pale  faces  and 
frightened  eyes,  much  as  they  might  have 
looked  had  I  been  brought  home  to  them 
spread  out  on  a  shutter. 
141 


An  Eventful  Night 

"  Never  mind,  Mo,"  were  the  first  words 
gasped  out  by  poor  William  when  I  had 
ended.  "  George,  my  dear  boy,  I'll  see 
you  through  this,"  and  then  steps  came 
hurrying  along  the  hall,  and  the  door  fell 
open  to  admit  a  servant's  flustered  face. 
But  before  it  had  fairly  dawned  upon  us, 
it  was  shoved  aside,  and  in  bounded  a 
small,  stooped  figure  which  I  recognized 
as  the  lawyer  I  had  consulted  that  morn 
ing.  Something  exciting  he  had  to  tell; 
his  face  showed  that,  and  before  I  could 
speak  to  him,  he  and  my  brother-in-law 
ran  at  each  other  and  fairly  exploded  with 
a  lot  of  legal  jargon  in  which  I  seemed  to 
figure  as  both  "John  Doe"  and  "Rich 
ard  Roe,"  so  involved  had  my  affairs  be 
come.  Then  all  three  of  them — for  my 
sister  had  mixed  herself  up  in  the  confu 
sion — turned  and  looked  at  me:  my  sis 
ter — for  she  loved  me — with  happy  tears 
chasing  the  shadows  from  her  eyes;  my 
brother-in-law — for  he  loved  my  sister — 
with  a  face  of  profound  relief;  and  my 
lawyer — for  he  loved  his  gold — with  a 
142 


An  Eventful  Night 

countenance  uplifted  by  the  vision  of  a 
heavy  fee. 

"Sir,"  he  said,  "sir,  allow  me  to  con 
gratulate  you;  you  have  married  an  heir 
ess!  "  and  he  grasped  me  with  fingers  pur 
ple  from  the  arteries  of  his  fountain  pen, 
and  shook  me  as  though  rattling  sover 
eigns  from  a  sack. 

"  By  George,  old  fellow,  you  lit  on  your 
feet  this  time!  "  burst  forth  William  with 
an  explosive  laugh,  and  he  gave  me  a  blow 
upon  the  back  which  would  have  driven 
home  a  railroad  spike. 

"Oh,  George,  and  she's  so  pretty!" 
whispered  my  sister,  with  her  arms  about 
my  neck.  "  Couldn't  you — don't  you 
think  you  might  learn  to  like  her  just  a 
little?" 

The  next  two  weeks  of  my  existence 
were  as  troubled  as  a  sick  man's  dream, 
for  though  scornfully  indifferent  to  the 
wretched  dollars  involved  in  the  affair, 
every  one  else  seemed  to  consider  them  of 
the  first  importance,  and  I  led  a  wretched 
life  of  it  in  the  hands  of  my  lawyer,  who 
143 


An  Eventful  Night 

worked  me  like  a  day  labourer  with  his 
everlasting  interviews.  And  when  Miss 
Brandon's  uncle  and  cousin  (I  hadn't  the 
courage  to  even  think  of  her  by  any  other 
name)  turned  violent  and  insulting,  no  one 
would  think  of  letting  me  meet  them,,  one 
at  a  time,  and  have  it  out  with  them. 
Those  who  took  an  interest  in  the  tire 
some  details  told  me  that  the  fantastic  will 
which  had  made  all  the  trouble  showed  up 
practically  the  same  as  it  had  been  given 
to  me;  and,  finally,  the  matter  was  settled 
somehow  on  a  comparatively  peaceful  basis. 
The  uncle  denied  everything,  of  course, 
but  finally  disgorged  enough,  I  suppose, 
to  satisfy  those  who  were  handling  the 
business.  Anyway,  they  ceased  torment 
ing  me  about  it;  even  Dr.  A ,  whose 

case  had  of  course  complicated  my  troubles, 
recovered  from  his  miraculously  trifling  in 
juries,  and  I  had  time  to  fall  back  on  the 
real  source  of  my  sufferings. 

It  had  its  root  in  the  unaccountable  dis 
like  taken  to  me  by  the  young  bride  flung 
so  strangely  on  my  care.     This  it  was 
144 


An  Eventful  Night 

which  robbed  me  of  my  appetite,  destroyed 
my  pleasing  manners,  made  me  peevish 
with  my  sister,  intolerant  of  the  cook,  pet 
tish  to  a  degree  with  the  housemaid,  and 
downright  savage  with  the  smirking  coach 
man,  who  privately  considered  himself  a 
party  to  all  my  unwholesome  notoriety. 
And  how  they  bore  with  me!  I  wondered 
at  their  goodness  even  while  I  kept  on 
trampling  over  them  in  my  unbridled  ego 
tism. 

It  must  have  been  patent  to  every  woman 
in  the  house,  from  my  sister  down  to  the 
meanest  scrubwoman,  that  I  Y/as  the  vic 
tim  of  an  engrossing  and  despairing  pas 
sion;  and  so  my  sister  ignored  petty  flings, 
the  cook  did  violence  to  her  own  past  rec 
ord,  the  housemaid  filled  my  vases  with 
flowers,  and  through  all  this  womanly  kind 
ness  I  stalked  untamed,  dishevelled  as  to 
ties,  solitary  as  to  habit,  a  lean  spectre  of 
a  bridegroom  without  a  bride. 

It  was  apparent  to  every  one  that  my 
bride  had  no  desire  for  my  society,  and  I 
was  made  to  feel,  even  by  Flo,  that  it  would 
10  145 


An  Eventful  Night 

be  considered  a  graceful  act  for  me  to  take 
my  meals  down  town  whenever  the  pretty 
recluse  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  prom 
ise  she  would  leave  her  room. 

1  You  see  she  feels  so  queer,  you  know," 
my  sister  would  say  with  an  inscrutable 
smile.  "And  I  have  promised  that  we 
will  be  alone  to-night";  and  so  I  would 
rush  off  savagely,  take  a  few  wretched 
morsels  of  food  somewhere,  then  sneak 
home  again  with  the  unacknowledged  hope 
of  surprising  them  at  the  table,  only  to  be 
hold  vanishing  skirts  melting  away  behind 
some  closing  door.  After  that  I  would 
fling  away  to  my  room,  and  commence  my 
daily  task  of  packing  the  satchel  which  I 
invariably  unpacked  before  the  night  was 
over. 

I  fell  to  absenting  myself  from  the  com 
mon  haunts  of  man,  taking  long  and  dis 
mal  walks  in  the  suburbs  of  the  place, 
moody  and  suicidal.  During  one  of  these 
rambles  it  was,  at  a  moment  when  my  self- 
pity  was  at  the  keenest,  that  I  came  upon 
a  group  of  men,  one  of  whom  was  in  police- 
146 


An  Eventful  Night 

man's  garb.  He  was  directing  the  others 
with  voice  and  gesture  regarding  a  maimed 
and  halting  beast  that  hobbled  in  their 
rear.  "  Take  him  to  the  outskirts  and 
shoot  him!"  he  bawled.  "He  broke  a 
plate-glass  window  to-day  racing  with  a 
street  car,"  and,  with  this  death  sentence 
warm  upon  his  lips,  he  faced  about  to  run 
full  against  me,  as  I  darted  towards  him. 

"Stop  them!  Stop  those  men!"  I 
called,  and  then,  before  his  fingers  could 
come  groping  for  my  collar,  I  explained 
more  calmly:  "  I  know  the  owner  of  that 
horse.  He  will  gladly  pay  for  any  damages 
that  it  has  done,  and  agree  to  see  after  it 
more  carefully  in  the  future." 

I  think  he  thought  I  was  demented,  but 
the  colour  of  my  gold  was  the  same  as  that 
of  any  sane  man's;  so,  after  a  decent  pause 
in  behalf  of  his  official  dignity,  he  recalled 
his  vassals,  and  a  moment  later,  with  the 
whole  crowd  jeering  at  me,  I  had  started 
on  my  homeward  way,  leading  the  wretched 
outcast.  On  through  the  sloppy  road  we 
went,  we  two  who  had  made  that  dark 
147 


An  Eventful  Night 

night  race  together — he  worn  and  spent 
in  body,  and  I  with  my  spirit  biting  the 
very  dust.  Long  was  the  way,  but  at 
length  we  turned  in  at  the  door  of  a  pub 
lic  stable,  where  a  wondering  but  friendly 
hostler  took  the  halter  from  me,  while  I 
told  him  my  desires. 

"  If  you  don't  'low  to  use  him  none,  he 
can  be  pulled  through  all  right,  I  guess," 
he  said  doubtfully.  "  But  his  legs  is  stiff 
as  posts,  and  he  won't  never  be  good  for 
nothin'  much  but  slow  travel  ";  and  then, 
while  he  went  for  oats  and  a  blanket,  I 
stooped  and  I  looked  into  the  creature's 
almost  human  eyes  in  dumb  apology  for 
the  wrong  my  passion  had  done  him. 
"  And  it  was  all  in  vain,  old  nag,"  I  whis 
pered,  patting  his  hair  with  a  lingering 
touch,  for  his  shape  was  a  beautiful  mem 
ory  to  me;  and  again,  in  fancy,  I  could  see 
it  steaming  along  the  frozen  road  which 
stretched  so  long,  so  long  before  me,  while 
a  girl  nestled  at  my  side,  and  a  peril  that 
made  her  mine  to  save  came  rushing  on 
behind. 

148 


An  Eventful  Night 

Distracted  with  memories,  I  hurried  home 
in  no  mood  to  cope  with  Flo,  when  she 
came  and  gently  probed  and  goaded  me, 
until  the  secret  of  my  heart  came  out  in 
an  angry  confession  that  I  loved  the  wife 
who  would  not  even  raise  her  eyes  to 
mine.  She  gave  me  not  a  ray  of  hope. 
She  even  said,  "  Poor  boy!  "  And  sullen 
with  despair,  I  flung  myself  from  her 
presence. 

I  now  decided  conclusively  to  leave  the 
country.  I  went  down  to  dinner  envel 
oped  in  a  halo  of  resolves,  having  mentally 
declined  every  objection  which  the  courtesy 
of  a  host  or  the  affection  of  a  relative  could 
urge  against  my  departure.  I  was  a  little 
late,  but  it  did  not  matter.  I  opened  the 
door  carelessly,  only  to  find  myself  stricken 
in  such  confusion  as  I  had  not  felt  since 
my  first  ball. 

It  was  not  the  teasing  light  from  Flo's 
smile  which  disconcerted  me,  nor  yet  the 
friendly  encouragement  which  radiated 
from  William's  entire  person.  No;  some 
one  else  was  there,  some  one  dressed  in 
149 


An  Eventful  Night 

shimmering  white,  with  a  blushing  face, 
but  a  bright  and  happy  one — a  young  per 
son  whom  Flo  and  William  called  "  Ber- 
nice  "  with  a  familiarity  positively  madden 
ing,  inasmuch  as  I  dared  call  her  nothing 
at  all. 

That  dinner!  How  I  got  through  it 
without  stabbing  myself  with  the  imple 
ments  of  which  I  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
the  use,  or  scalding  myself  with  the  soup 
which  I  swallowed  boiling  hot,  no  one  can 
tell.  I  certainly  was  a  great  care  to  the 
servants;  they  were  kept  busy  dragging 
off  the  small  articles  I  wrecked  about  me; 
but  no  one  noticed  my  accidents.  They 
were  all  in  the  highest  spirits,  and  laughed 
at  my  few  stuttering  remarks  as  though  I 
were  the  funniest  creature  living. 

"  But  I  am  sorry  you  feel  that  you  must 
leave  us,"  said  Flo,  when  we  had  got  back 
to  the  drawing-room,  catching  her  train 
from  beneath  my  feet  as  she  spoke,  and 
smiling  upon  me.  "  Thomas  says  you 
have  packed  up  again.  I  wonder  that  you 
don't  wear  out  your  clothing,  changing  it 
150 


An  Eventful  Night 

about  so."  Then  she  melted  from  the 
room,  and  William,  without  even  the  de 
cent  pretext  of  an  excuse,  made  haste  to 
follow. 

I  think  my  companion  knew  that  they 
were  going,  but  when  we  were  fairly  alone 
her  courage  failed  her.  A  little  cry  es 
caped  her  lips,  and,  had  I  not  quickly 
placed  myself  before  her,  she,  too,  would 
have  vanished. 

"Bernice,"  I  cried,  and  I  was  on  my 
knees  before  her,  "you  must  help  me  to 
save  my  honour.  I  said  that  I  would  leave, 
but  I  cannot.  Oh,  Bernice,  my  little 
bride,  I  cannot!  " 

Had  I  frightened,  had  I  shocked  her? 
I  dared  not  look  up,  but  clasping  tightly 
in  my  own  the  trembling  hands  which  I 
caught  as  they  wound  themselves  nervously 
together,  I  pressed  them  close  against  my 
downbent  face.  There  was  a  long  silence 
while  the  small  hands  struggled  feebly  in 
mine ;  then  they  grew  still,  and  there  came 
faintly:  "I — I  don't  think  that  I  want 
you  to  go — but  you  never  had  any  wife — 
151 


An  Eventful  Night 

and — you  aren't  a  doctor  at  all— and — 

and " 

If  there  are  those  who  would  prefer  to 
believe  that  I  remained  upon  my  knees 
through  all  that  faltering  speech  they  may 
do  so,  but  I  think  there  are  many  who  will 
appreciate  me  better  if  they  doubt  that  I 
was  so  passive. 


153 


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